LAS VEGAS—BKT USA Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of India-based Balkrishna Industries Ltd., announced during the Specialty Equipment Market Association Show here that the off-highway tire specialist company is planning to soon build a U.S. tire plant. The $100 million factory will be BKT's first outside of India and fifth tire plant overall.

WOOSTER, OH—Gardeners may look at dandelions as weeds, but the auto industry may soon see them as a gold mine. Tire makers and auto parts suppliers are investigating whether dandelions and other plants can be used as alternatives to rubber trees for producing natural latex.

DES MOINES, IA—Firestone has reached a tentative agreement with the United Steelworkers Union covering workers at the tire manufacturer’s factories in Iowa, Arkansas, Illinois and Tennessee.

AKRON, OH—Goodyear researchers have found that using soybean oil in tires can potentially increase tread life by 10 percent and reduce the tiremaker’s use of petroleum by up to 7 million gallons each year.