Michelin-Conti to open US tire/wheel plant

Vance, Alabama-TW Fitting NA 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 (€8.1-million), 9290-m2 facility under construction in the Legacy Industrial Campus in rural Tuscaloosa County near Vance-close to a 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 totalling $453 581. Construction should be completed by September, the authority said.