Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. Targets Latin America for Exponential Growth

tirebusiness.com reported Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. is targeting Latin/South America for exponential growth as part of its global expansion strategy. Cooper, which has set up sales agents in 21 Latin American and Caribbean nations, anticipates selling 4 million to 5 million units throughout Latin America by 2020, according to a presentation the company made earlier this year to investors and stock analysts.

The company did not disclose its current rate of sales for comparison, but did make reference in its presentation to expected reductions in duties throughout Latin America as a reason for its optimism. To do so, Cooper expects to leverage its manufacturing capacity in Mexico, where it said in the investors’ presentation it has the opportunity to expand by 50 percent.

It did not elaborate on those plans, saying only it expects to be able to take advantage of “low cost, near-sourced manufacturing” that offers a “faster response to market demand changes.” Capacity at the company’s plant in Mexico, the Corporación de Occidente S.A. de C.V. factory in El Salito, is listed at 18,500 car and light truck tires daily. Read Article