Michelin-Conti JV to open US tyre/wheel assembly plant

From Rubber & Plastics News

Vance, Alabama-TW Fitting N.A. LLC, a Groupe Michelin/Continental AG joint venture, is setting up a plant in Vance to supply Mercedes-Benz of America Inc. with mounted tyre/wheel assemblies.

TW Fitting is a unit of Eurofit, a Belgian subsidiary of Michelin Continental Projects, a 50:50 Michelin-Continental joint venture. This is the first North American factory for Eurofit, which operates several tyre/wheel assembly plants in Europe.

The new company will occupy half of a $10 million, 100,000-sq.-ft. facility under construction in the Legacy Industrial Campus in rural Tuscaloosa County near Vance close to the Mercedes plant where the M-class sport-utility vehicle is assembled.

Mercedes is doubling the size of its operation in Vance to 160,000 vehicles annually, including assembly of the new Grand Sport Tourer and the next-generation M-class.

The TW Fitting operation will create 35 jobs initially, according to the Tuscaloosa Industrial Development Authority, which has approved tax abatements for the project totaling $453 581. Construction should be completed by September, the authority said.