Conti officially opens China tyre plant

ERJ staff report (DS)

Hefei, China -- Continental AG has officially opened its first Chinese tyre plant in Hefei, Anhui province. “Asia is one of our key growth markets. This investment is another major step into this direction, with which we are significantly enhancing our position in the automotive industry in China and in the Asia Pacific region,” said Dr. Elmar Degenhart, CEO of the Continental Corporation.

The new high technology facility will have an annual production capacity of four million passenger tyres, which will be sold in the local Chinese and Asian market. Continental's investment will add up to more than €185 million. With this investment, Continental will be creating 200 jobs at Hefei in 2011, in addition to the more than 400 existing ones. Locally produced Continental tyres will be supplied to the Chinese market starting in the next few weeks.

The targeted total production volume of the entire Hefei plant is 16 million tyres, for which further investments for the expansion of the existing production capacity are planned in the near future. These investments will also create additional jobs.

he Hefei plant produces premium medium- and high-end passenger tyres to meet both local demand in China as well as internationally. In 2011, the first high-volume products from the new plant will include the ContiPremiumContact 2 and ContiComfortContact 5, both of which are tailored for the Chinese market.

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Press release from Continental