Continental to Build New Tire Plant in Thailand
German
tire manufacturer giant to strengthen its position in the APAC region by
establishing its new tire manufacturing plant in Thailand
Thailand: Continental AG plans to build its new
tire manufacturing facility in Thailand, wherein, the construction of the plant
is anticipated to start, later this year, however, the production is expected
to initiate from 2019.
In addition to that, the company’s plant
is expected to establish in the province of Rayong, on a 750,000 squared-meters
area, with an investment of about USD265 million and is anticipated to produce nearly
4 million light truck and passenger tires annually with a workforce of about
900 employees in its initial phase. The new plant is almost 140km from Bangkok
and around 60km from a deep-sea port in Laem Chabang.
“The investment in Thailand is another
major step in realizing the ambitious growth plans of our Vision 2025 by
further improving the balance of our global manufacturing footprint and
enhancing our position as one of the technologically leading tire manufacturers
worldwide," says Nikolai Setzer, a member of Continental's executive board
in charge of the tire division, he further added, "One important pillar of
our long-term strategy is to operate with an agile and flexible set-up that
enables us to react fast to the market requirements, establish further
production capacities in the growth region (Asia Pacific) and to strongly
support our Asia Pacific growth plans with high-tech production
capabilities."
As per TechSci Research, with the
establishment of company’s new tire plant, Continental is further anticipated
to capture the growing demand for tires in the country. Furthermore, the move
is also anticipated to strengthen Continental’s position in Thailand and boost
the company’s sales’ all across the Asia-Pacific region in coming years.
According to a recent report published
by TechSci Research, “Thailand
Tyre Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2020’’, Thailand has emerged as one of the most
preferred destinations for automobile production for various leading global
automotive players due to availability of cheap labor and geographical
advantage of its location in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)
region. Thailand is the leading rubber producing country worldwide, and
accounted for around one-third of the global rubber production in 2014. Major
global automotive OEMs such as General Motors, Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi,
Honda, Isuzu, Ford, Nissan, etc., have established their manufacturing plants
in Thailand, in order to address increasing domestic as well as global demand
for automobiles, which in turn, has been surging demand for automotive tires in
the country.