PUCHOV, Slovak Republic—Continental A.G. will invest $135 million at its plant in Puchov to add 400,000 units of annual truck tire capacity to address growing demand in the Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The expansion will include "extensive upgrades to machinery and infrastructure" to achieve maximum production efficiency and put in capacity for the firm's "Generation 3" bus tires, Conti said, and is addition to an earlier announcement that the firm intends to boost car and light truck tire by 45 percent capacity at Puchov.
"Despite the currently challenging economic situation in Europe, we see a considerable in-creased demand for our truck and bus tire business in the mid-term," said Andreas Esser, head of the commercial vehicle tires business unit.
Conti said the exact timing of this capacity increase will depend on the market development and its influence on the customers' demand for truck and bus tires. The project will boost annual truck tire capacity at Puchov—Conti's largest truck/bus tire plant in Europe—to 3 million units.