Continental has selected a site in Mississippi for a new plant. The company says this addition will drive the future growth of its tire business in the North American market. Continental Tire, the Americas LLC (CTA) has reached an agreement with the state of Mississippi to purchase a site for the construction of a commercial vehicle tire plant.
Continental has committed for a long-term investment totaling approximately $1.4 billion. The plant will employ 2,500 people when it reaches full capacity in the next decade. The new manufacturing facility will be located at a greenfield site in Hinds County off of Interstate 20, two miles from Clinton and 20 miles from Jackson.
“The project in Hinds County, Mississippi, is part of our global growth strategy. In a first step the new plant is especially addressing our commitment to grow our commercial vehicle tire business in North America,” said Nikolai Setzer, Continental’s executive board member for the tire business. “The announcement of a new tire plant in the U.S. is the second in just five years for Continental. We thank the state of Mississippi, Hinds County and the City of Clinton and Governor Bryant for his leadership in bringing us to the Jackson area, and we look forward to a strong business relationship for years to come.”
CTA says it continues to see customer demand for its products — both new truck and bus tires as well as retreads, which are growing beyond the company’s existing capacity.
A date for the start of construction has not yet been announced, but the company says it expects to break ground in the next several months. The production of commercial vehicle tires is planned to start by end of 2019.
Continental has invested more than $1.5 billion in the past five years for manufacturing, technology, facilities and product development in the U.S. Part of this investment has been the expansion of Continental’s tire plant in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, and the new Sumter, South Carolina, facility. Aside from the U.S., Continental’s Tire Division has recently expanded production capacity also in Russia, China and Europe to better serve global demand on a long-term basis.
