Tokyo (September 22, 2011)-Bridgestone Corporation announced today that its Group company, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC (BATO) has decided to further increase production capacity of passenger car radial tires (PSR) and light truck radial tires (LTR) at its Aiken Plant in South Carolina, the United States. The total investment will be approximately US$211 million (approximately ¥18.0 billion). Plans call for increasing the plant's production capacity by approximately 8,000 tires per day, to approximately 37,750 tires per day during the third quarter of 2015.

The Aiken Plant began operations in 1998 and mainly manufactures PSR and LTR for the North American market. BATO announced in July 2011 that it will increase the Aiken Plant's production capacity by approximately 4,750 tires per day. BATO plans to complete this expansion by the first quarter of 2013. BATO decided that a further increase in production capacity was necessary in order to cater to the steady growth in demand for PSR and LTR tires in North America.

The Bridgestone Group is continuously improving its production and supply systems so that it can always respond rapidly to market demand trends and provide customers with even higher quality products in a timely manner.

<Outline of the Aiken Plant>

1. Location:	Aiken County, South Carolina
2. Products:	Passenger car radial tires and light truck radial tires
3. Current square meters of the building:	Approximately 167,000 square meters
4. Start of Operation:	1998
5. Number of Employees:	Approximately 1,250 (as of September 2011)
6. Production capacity:	Approximately 25,000 tires/day (as of September 2011)