Continental ramping up Indian tire operations

LSRUNQI

Continental ramping up Indian tire operations
5 s: m% T8 k5 T! ^
7 w$ K, f3 a( F! vThursday, August 25, 2011
6 P) k0 ]9 ?7 o2 w
, F3 M* L- `4 h+ r" z, M" D: ]Hanover/New Delhi - Continental announced its expansion plans for the Indian market. Following the recent acquisition of Modi Tyres Company Limited (MTCL), the new entity Continental India is ramping up its operations significantly in both replacement and OEM business in India. Continental India will be increasing the production of the Modipuram plant to over half a million bias truck and bus tires (TBX) as early as this year. There are plans for TBX production to grow continuously to more than one million units in 2013. In addition, Continental India announced further investments of more than 50 million Euros to start production of radial tires for passenger cars and commercial vehicles in the second half of 2013. Nikolai Setzer, executive board member Continental AG and head of the tire division, said “In India, there is a rising demand for vehicles with high quality tires as well as premium technology. Thus, we are convinced that radialization will be the driving force in the Indian truck tire market, and therefore our further investments of more than 50 million Euros in radial truck tire production will prepare a solid base in order to meet that demand.” In the near future, Continental plans to manufacture radial tires at the Modipuram plant and will generate a competitive leap by being able to offer both radial and bias tires out of local production. This move will also create further job opportunities as Continental India Ltd plans to increase its headcount by more than a third from the current 1,600 employees up to 2,200 to 2,400 within the next few years.