Continental Expects $122.7 million Loss in US

Continental AG is expecting a loss of $122.7 million in its US passenger-car tyre business this year, Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung has reported. The business posted a loss of $98 million the year before. The newspaper did not name any sources but did report that up to 300 of the 1,400 jobs in its plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, plant would be cut in July and production would be reduced by a third to roughly 16,000 tyres per day.

A Continental spokesperson told Reuters the story was “highly speculative” but confirmed that there were adjustments in its Charlotte production output and that Continental was in talks with unions over a solution.

Continental had recently said that its goal of breaking even in its NAFTA passenger-car tyre business by the fourth quarter this year had become “much harder” to reach.

The head of Continental’s passenger car tyre business left the company following its AGM in May, citing “strategy differences.”