Pirelli to add fifth MIRS line at Georgia plant

Milan, Italy -- Pirelli is to invest a further $15 million to expand capacity at its tyre factory in Rome Georgia. The plant uses exclusively MIRS (Modular, Integrated, Robotic System) for making tyres.

The investment will increase the number of MIRS production lines from four to five. MIRS is an advanced robotized system for manufacturing high performance tyres. The Rome facility produces tyres for both original equipment and replacement markets in North America.

Pirelli's decision to increase production of high performance tyres in Georgia is part of its North American growth strategy begun at the start of the decade. Over the past three years Pirelli has seen large gains in its North American market share with a 30 percent sales increase, and now supplies its ultra-high performance tyres to some of GM and Ford's highest performing car models, the new Camaro and Mustang respectively, as well as Mercedes and BMW transplant models.