Pirelli's 5-year plan to focus on fast-growing markets

ERJ staff report (DS)

Milan, Italy -- Pirelli is aiming to grow faster than the global tyre market over the next three to five years. It will achieve an average sales growth of 8 percent annually by focussing on the fast-growing regions of the world, notably Latin America and Asia-Pacific. It will continue to emphasise premium segment tyres, which is also growing faster than the global average.

The company announced a new plant in Mexico, with an initial investment of $210 million. The plant marks a slight chane in policy aiming to make tyres where they will be sold under a policy of 'local manufacture for local consumption.

Announcing the new plan, Marco Tronchetti Provera, head of Pirelli Group said, "Pirelli has concluded its transformation into a pure tyre company and reached its targets ahead of schedule. In a world that is changing fast and in which new areas of growth are emerging, we have developed a plan which puts the company in the best possible position to compete”

In a further announcement, the company will renew its manufacturing facilities, so that by 2015, 60 percent of all equipment will be less than 10 years old.

Pirelli's transformation and growth will be supported by a total investment of 1.9 billion euros between 2011 and 2015, an increase from the 1.5 billion euros invested between 2006 and 2010. Almost all this investment (99%) will go to the tyre sector, to meet growing demand in the market, in particular in the premium segment, in a market in which production over-capacity is not foreseen.

In Mexico, Pirelli will invest 210 million dollars over the next two years for the construction of a

new plant to produce High-performance and Ultra High-Performance tyres for cars and light

commercial vehicles. These will be for the internal market but above all for export to markets in

the Nafta area, in particular the USA. The new facility will be operational from 2012 and will have a

production capacity of about 5 million units in 2015.

This is an external link and should open in a new window. If the window does not appear, please check your pop-up blocking software. ERJ is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Summary Press release from Pirelli

Extended Press release from Pirelli (in PDF format)