Continental Tire North America Inc. (CTNA) will invest more than $60 million in its Mt. Vernon, Ill., plant over the next three years to expand production of passenger, light truck and commercial tires.
"The investment will allow for increased manufacturing flexibility, enabling us to adjust to increased market demand for replacement tires, particularly in categories such as high performance and ultra-high performance," says CTNA CEO Matthias Schoenberg.
Out of the $60 million total, more than $40 million will be spent on new machinery for passenger and light truck tire production, which will increase the plant's capacity for these products by two million units per year. (Currently, the Mt. Vernon plant has the capacity to produce 24,000 passenger and 6,000 light truck tires per day, according to Modern Tire Dealer research.)
The remainder of the investment has been earmarked for CTNA's commercial tire production. As a result, Mt. Vernon will be responsible for more than 90% of CTNA's truck tire production in the United States. (Mt. Vernon has the capacity to build 4,000 medium truck tires per day.)
