Continental adjusts tyres production in Romania

Continental, the largest tyre manufacturer on the Romanian market, revises short-term the expansion plans for the tire plant. The company has initially planned to expand the production of tires in Timisoara yearly by around by 10% and further output expansion in the next few years. “In the long run, we plan to expand our production operations here, but we are dependent on our clients, and we have to adjust daily production based on the number of orders,” said Thierry Wipff, general manager of tyre plant Continental Timisoara, adding that the 2009 volume is also heavily dependent on the progression of client orders and of the tyre market. The 2008 production target was of around 13 million units, but the threshold was not exceeded. “Last year, we did not surpass 13 million tyres, given that over the last three months, tyre orders for new cars have gone down,” said company representatives. Considering the 10% growth rate initially planned by Continental, in 2009 the production should have exceeded 14 million tyres. These tires were designed for the tyre replacement market and for automotive manufacturers.