HEFEI, China (Oct. 10, 2008) — Continental A.G. has broken ground on its newest tire plant, a $253 million passenger and light truck tire factory in Hefei due on stream in 2010.
The first phase of the project will encompass about 753,000 square feet of covered space. Conti said its project represents the largest single direct foreign investment in Anhui Province to date.
The plant will have an annual capacity of 4 million tires initially, rising to more than 10 million in the long term, according to Heinz-Gerhard Wente, a member of Conti's executive board who attended the ground breaking.
Conti emphasized the new plant will incorporate environmentally friendly processes and techniques in response to Hefei City's urban planning initiatives. The plant will use a biological filtration system to purify the smells arising from the tire manufacturing processes, for example. Conti said this is the first time it will employ a biotech filtration system in the tire engineering process.