Continental AG recently broke ground on a $265 million tire plant in Rayong, Thailand. This will be Conti’s sixth plant in the Asia-Pacific region. The plant is scheduled to open in 2019 with an initial annual capacity of 4 million passenger and light truck tires and up to 900 employees. Future ramp up could take capacity to 25 million tires per year.
Conti has also begun expansion of its six-year-old tire plant in Hefei, China. The project is designed to boost production there by 75 percent by 2019. Conti budgeted $272 million for the expansion, which will boost annual capacity to 14 million car and light truck tires and nearly double employment to 2,700 workers.
“We regard the Asia Pacific region, especially the China market, as the company’s main growth engine for the upcoming years. This large-scale expansion once again represents our confidence and commitment to the China market,” said Nikolai Setzer, head of Conti’s Tire Division and an executive board member.
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