Continental is expanding its radial off-highway tire business with a new US$113 million facility.
Built for its radial off-the-road (OTR) products, the factory will be situated at the company’s production site in Lousado, Portugal as it seeks to meet its long-term growth strategy.
Creating around 100 jobs, the plant will be primarily for producing the radial earthmoving and port tires with a diameter larger than 24 inches and will cost around €100 million (US$113 million).
Christian Kötz, member of the executive board and head of the tire division at Continental, said, “Thanks to the investments and additional capacity created, we are continuing to pursue the growth strategy of the tire division. Both the port and earthmoving segments are among the key growth areas in the commercial specialty tire market. The new production lines clearly reflect our commitment to these segments and the overall OTR business.”
Adjacent to the radial agricultural tire production factory opened in 2017, the new facility is equipped with state-of-the-art tire building machinery and automated devices designed to deliver radial tires following high ergonomic standards.
Once at full speed, the production lines will deliver three earthmoving tire lines and another three port tire lines, while the nearby research and development center in Lousado, is also being expanded for continuous performance and quality testing of all agricultural, port and earthmoving tires.
“This investment strengthens our footprint in Lousado and transforms the top-efficiency plant into a competence center for big radial tires for off-road use”, added Kötz.
