GENEVA (March 13, 2012)—Continental A.G. will invest as much as $665 million a year for the next several years to expand tire plant production capacity throughout the world, accroding to Nikolai Setzer, head of the German company's tire division.
The $400 million to $665 million annual spending is in addition to $1.3 billion or so the company has committed to building factories in the U.S. and Russia and expanding capacities in Brazil and India, Setzer said while attending the Geneva Motor Show. These plants are designed primarily to meet the requirements of their respective local markets.
In 2011, the tire division sold about 122 million passenger and light truck tires and 7 million commercial vehicle tires worldwide. The Conti operation achieved operating income of $1.67 billion on sales of $12.3 billion.
Conti restructured its operations last August, putting the passenger/light truck tires and commercial vehicle tires units together. The newly organized Tire Division has 41,135 employees worldwide and 22 production and development sites.
The passenger and light truck Tire Business Staff Reported progress for the past year, with Conti claiming a one-third market share in Europe and one-sixth in the U.S. with the Conti brand.
In China and Russia, Conti said it is on the cusp of starting original equipoment business with tires from new plants in those countries.