The move, first announced in May, is to allow the company to move production to lower-cost countries, it said.

“Goodyear has issued severance pay to the 280 or so workers and staff, so they will no longer come to work in August,” Goodyear Taiwan's press officer Huang Chih-ling said.

“But our supply of products and service to customers will not be affected. We will maintain the six distributors and some 700 retailers” in Taiwan, she added.

Goodyear, based in Ohio, U.S., opened its Taoyuan plant in the northwest of the island in 1998. The plant manufactured car tires for domestic and export markets.

Last year, Goodyear cut some 5,700 of its 70,000 jobs worldwide.

Goodyear turned a US$28-million net profit in the second quarter, up from a loss of US$221 million year-on-year, the company said Thursday.

The company attributed its recovery to the rebounding car market and its own cost-cutting efforts.