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Goodyear Tire and Rubber is spending betrween $40 and $45 million to buy a further stake in the Polish tyre manufacturer TC Debica, and is asking the Polish firm to triple production of commercial vehicle tyres.

The expansion of the factory, where the Luxembourg-based Goodyear SA has had a majority stake since 1995, is likely to cost in the region of $200 million. Goodyear also announced its intention of make an offer for the remaining 34 per cent of the company it doesn't at present own within the next 18 months.

TC Debica is already Poland's largest tyre maker and has 2,500 employees. It already supplies tyres to Goodyear and its affiliates; the tyres are sold under the Goodyear, Debica, Dunlop, Fulda and Sava brands.

The expansion of the plant in southern Poland would take capacity from 1,700 truck tyres a day to 5,000 and would create up to 400 new jobs, Goodyear said. Debica has already doubled its truck tyre production since Goodyear first took control of the company. Government funds are likely to be available to expand the plant.

Last April, Goodyear announced an $8.5 million investment to increase truck tyre production at Debica; that project is separate from today's announcements, Goodyear said.

Goodyear also produces truck tyres at European plants in Luxembourg, Germany and Turkey. Tyre production has increasingly been moving to the lower cost countries of eastern Europe. Last month, Goodyear announced that it would cut tyre production at factories in France.