MOSCOW (Aug. 26)—Amtel Holdings will begin making Vredestein-brand tires at its own tire plants in Russia this year to complement tires it is importing from its Amtel-Vredestein unit in Enschede, Netherlands.
Amtel recently completed its $256 million buy out of Vredestein. The company said the production arrangement is part of the firm's new structure.
Amtel said it is planning to make 15,000 Vredestein-brand tires this year at its factory in Kirov, Russia, to supplement 30,000 Vredestein tires imported. In 2006 this will increase to 200 000 imports and 1 million manufactured in Russia.
The Enschede plant has the capacity to produce about 5 million tires annually, while Amtel´s total production in 2004 was 14.4 million units, the company said.