Continental Expects to Break Ground for New Plant in a Few Months

Feb. 8, 2016

Continental Tire the Americas LLC expects to break ground for a $1.4 billion commercial vehicle tire plant in Mississippi in a few months. The new plant will be located at a greenfield site in Hinds County off of Interstate 20, two miles from Clinton and 20 miles from Jackson.

Continental will begin site development in 2016 and expects to begin construction of the plant in 2018. The production of commercial vehicle tires is planned to start by end of 2019.

The company reached an agreement with the state of Mississippi to purchase a nearly 1,000 acre site for the new plant. Continental has committed for a long-term investment totaling approximately $1.4 billion and employing 2,500 people when the plant reaches full capacity in the next decade.

“The project in Hinds County, Miss., 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,” says Nikolai Setzer, Continental’s executive board member for the tire business.

Continental says its business growth has consistently exceeded the market over the last five years. The company 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.

“The team has worked hard over the past several years to add value to our commercial fleet customers by expanding our service offerings in order to lower the overall operating costs,” says Paul Williams, executive vice president, Continental Commercial Vehicle Tires, the Americas.

“As a result, we continue to enjoy solid growth in our business and a demand for more commercial vehicle tires. As we plan our growth, we have found this site provides significant advantages for a future tire plant in terms of its large skilled workforce, as well as its ideal location and infrastructure.

"The state of Mississippi has developed an outstanding business climate and this site met all of our needs for projected growth in the near as well as in the longer term. We look forward to providing well-paying jobs with excellent benefits to the people of the Jackson area within the next few years,” says Williams.

The Mississippi plant will be Continental's third in the U.S. The company is currently expanding its plant in Sumter, S.C. The expansion will increase capacity of passenger and light truck tires to about 8 million units by 2021. The company also manufactures passenger, light truck and medium truck tires at a plant in Mt. Vernon, Ill.

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