Conti prepares ground for further expansion in China

Hanover, Germany — Continental AG has secured an option to buy a plot of land adjacent to its tire plant in Hefei, opening the possibility of expanding the five-year-old facility further in the near future.

Conti did not commit at this time to any specific expansion, but Burkhardt Koeller, chairman of Continental Reifen Deutschland GmbH said: “This purchase option for additional plots of land puts us in a position to almost double the amount of space available to us, which brings us invaluable long-term latitude in our planning.

“On this basis, we can now consider some very different scenarios and then act in accordance with actual market developments and the way our sales develop in the various product segments.”

Burkhardt made his comments during a signing ceremony this week in Hanover with Hefei deputy mayor Han Bing and other representatives of the city.

Conti did not disclose financial details of the agreement nor the size of the plot of land.

The company is in the midst of a $272-million, Phase 3 expansion project at Hefei, which should more than double annual capacity there for car tires to 14 million units by 2019 and boost bicycle tire output to 13 million units annually by 2025.

“In line with our long-term growth strategy, Vision 2025, we have been very systematic in expanding production capacities at our Hefei plant in China,” Keller said at the signing ceremony.