Toyo Tire Corporation has announced the decision to cease productions at the Silverstone Malaysia Bhd (SSM) factory in Taiping by June 2021. Liquidation of SSM will start as soon as 31 December 2021 while all operations will be moved to Toyo Tyre Malaysia’s other factory.
The factory has been in operations for 30 years and currently produces Silverstone tyres for new cars as well as after-market sales, and certain Toyo brand tyres.
Silverstone Synergy M3
In case you’re wondering, the Silverstone brand will live on, only the wholly own subsidiary Silverstone Malaysia Bhd will be liquidated. Once operations cease, production of these tyres, including the Silverstone tyres will be moved to Toyo Tyre Malaysia’s other factory in the country.
In a statement, Toyo Tire Corporation said the decision to close down the factory and liquidate Silverstone Malaysia Bhd after taking into account its operating environment, the position of the factory in the group’s global strategy, and its production capacity.
It said that after looking at an all-round perspective, the conclusion showed that the closure of the factory in unavoidable. New Straits Times also reports that SSM also recorded its highest profit lost in 2020.
According to Free Malaysia Today, all employees at the factory are due for retrenchment.
There isn’t a time in memory that doesn’t involve staring at cars. After discovering the excitement of watching Schumacher vs Hakkinen, Formula 1 became a major part of life. The love for cars and F1 ultimately led to a job with CAR Magazine. The untimely death of the magazine meant a hiatus from cars at lifestyle women’s magazine Marie Claire before another opportunity came knocking again.
