Who Makes Yokohama Tires? | Brand Owner, Plants, Origins

Yokohama tires come from The Yokohama Rubber Company, a Japanese tire maker with subsidiaries and factories across the world.

If you’re asking who makes Yokohama tires, the name behind the brand is The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. That’s the parent company. It has been in the tire business since 1917, and it runs a wide mix of tire operations under the Yokohama name.

The confusion usually starts when shoppers see different names on a website, an invoice, or a plant sign. You might spot Yokohama Tire Corporation in the United States, a factory name in Mississippi or Virginia, or a dealer listing that only says Yokohama. Those aren’t separate tire brands. They’re pieces of the same corporate setup.

Who Makes Yokohama Tires? The Brand Behind The Name

The Parent Company

Yokohama tires are made by The Yokohama Rubber Company, Ltd., a Japanese manufacturer with its head office in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, Japan. The firm was established on October 13, 1917, and tires remain one of its main product lines. That means the Yokohama name on a passenger tire, truck tire, or SUV tire traces back to one long-running tire company, not a short-term private-label operation.

That point matters when you’re weighing brand history. Some tire names are owned by one company, built by another, and sold through a third. Yokohama is cleaner than that. The same parent group owns the brand, runs tire plants, and handles sales through regional arms.

What Buyers In North America Usually See

In the United States and Canada, many buyers run into Yokohama Tire Corporation first. That’s the North American manufacturing and marketing arm tied to the Japanese parent. So if a product page says Yokohama Tire Corporation, you’re still looking at the Yokohama brand under the same corporate family.

This split between parent company and regional arm is common in the tire trade. It helps with sales, shipping, dealer relations, and local plant management. It does not mean the brand is licensed out to an unrelated maker.

A Brief History Of The Yokohama Name

Yokohama Rubber has been around for more than a century. The company’s early growth came through tire making in Japan, then it added more plants, more tire lines, and more overseas operations over time. That long run is one reason the brand shows up across passenger cars, light trucks, commercial trucks, and off-road segments.

For shoppers, the age of the company doesn’t tell the whole story, but it does answer one plain question: Yokohama isn’t a house label slapped onto tires from a mystery source. It’s a brand with its own manufacturing base, its own engineering chain, and its own sales arms in many markets.

• Brand name: YOKOHAMA is the consumer-facing tire brand most people know.
• Parent company: The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. owns the brand.
• Regional seller: In North America, Yokohama Tire Corporation handles much of the sales side.
• Plant name: A tire may also come from a factory with its own legal company name.

Yokohama Tire Ownership And Manufacturing Setup

Yokohama’s structure is broad but easy to read once you split it into three layers: parent company, regional sales arm, and factory. The parent company owns the brand and the tire business. Regional companies move the tires into each market. Individual factories handle production for certain lines and regions.

On Yokohama Rubber’s corporate data page, the company lists itself as The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., established in 1917, with tires named as a mainstay product. On its page for worldwide subsidiaries and production locations, the group also lists production and sales companies across the United States, Asia, Europe, and other regions. That gives you the cleanest answer to the ownership question and the best clue about where different Yokohama tires can be built.

Part Of The Business	What It Does	Current Detail
Parent company	Owns the Yokohama tire brand	The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd.
Founded	Shows how long the tire maker has operated	1917
Head office	Main corporate base	Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, Japan
North American arm	Handles regional manufacturing and marketing	Yokohama Tire Corporation
U.S. production	Makes selected tires for the local market	Virginia and Mississippi operations are listed by the group
Japan tire plants	Produces a wide mix of tire types	Mie, Mishima, Onomichi, Shinshiro, and Shinshiro-Minami
Other Asian production	Builds tires for several markets	Thailand, China, India, Philippines, and Vietnam are listed
Regional sales firms	Move products through dealers and distributors	Listed across North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania

Where Yokohama Tires Are Made Today

Japan Plants Still Matter

Japan remains a major base for the Yokohama tire business. The company lists tire plants in Mie, Mishima, Onomichi, Shinshiro, and Shinshiro-Minami. These plants handle different tire categories, including passenger car tires, light truck tires, racing tires, and large tires for industrial or heavy-duty use.

That means a Yokohama tire bought in one market may come from Japan, while another Yokohama model sold in a different market may come from a plant closer to the buyer. The model line, tire size, and target market all shape that decision.

North America And Other Overseas Plants

Yokohama also lists production operations in the United States, including Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Virginia and Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi. Outside North America, the group lists tire production in countries such as Thailand, China, India, the Philippines, and Vietnam, along with more overseas tire operations tied to other parts of the business.

So the clean answer is this: Yokohama tires are not all made in one country. They are made by Yokohama group companies in several countries, with the parent company still sitting at the top of the chain.

• A Yokohama tire sold in the U.S. may be made in the U.S., Japan, or another Yokohama plant abroad.
• The brand owner stays the same even when the plant country changes.
• The plant choice often depends on tire line, size, and regional demand.
• Dealer listings don’t always show the plant, so the sidewall matters more than the online product title.

How To Check The Maker On Your Own Tire

If you want to verify a tire in your driveway, don’t stop at the brand name alone. Start with the sidewall. You’ll see YOKOHAMA molded into the tire if it’s a Yokohama-brand product. Then look for the DOT code and the small manufacturing details nearby. Those markings can point to the factory code and production date.

You can also check the paperwork that came with the tire. A dealer invoice may name Yokohama Tire Corporation, a warehouse entity, or a local seller. That tells you who sold it into your market. It does not cancel out the parent company’s role as the brand owner and tire maker.

The Sidewall Is The Fastest Check

1. Read the brand molded into the sidewall.
2. Find the DOT code.
3. Note the factory code and date code.
4. Match that with the model line and seller paperwork.
5. Use that full picture to tell brand owner, seller, and plant apart.

What You’re Reading	Where You’ll Find It	What It Tells You
Brand name	Large sidewall lettering	Tells you it’s a Yokohama-branded tire
Model name	Sidewall near the brand	Tells you the tire family, such as ADVAN or GEOLANDAR
DOT code	Sidewall stamp	Helps identify factory code and production timing
Invoice seller name	Receipt or dealer paperwork	Shows who sold or distributed the tire in your market
Country of manufacture	Sidewall or product data	Shows where that tire was built, not who owns the brand

What The Yokohama Name Means For Buyers

When people ask this question, they’re often trying to judge quality, consistency, and where the tire came from. The clean takeaway is that Yokohama is a real tire manufacturer with its own parent company, its own plants, and its own regional sales arms. It is not just a badge applied by an outside reseller.

That still leaves room for one detail many shoppers miss: one Yokohama tire may come from a different plant than another. That’s normal for a large tire company. The better way to read the brand is to separate three things clearly. Who owns the brand? Yokohama Rubber. Who sold it in your market? A regional Yokohama company or dealer. Where was it built? That depends on the exact tire.

So if your goal is to pin down the maker, you can answer it in one line without hedging: The Yokohama Rubber Company makes Yokohama tires, and it does so through a network of Yokohama group plants and subsidiaries around the world.