Amtel Tyre Production Begins at Moscow Plant

Amtel-Vredestein N.V. has announced that it has begun production of its Amtel brand of tyres at the Moscow Tyre Plant-M; only weeks after the company announced its intention to acquire the factory. The company has also met its promise to make the plant more environmentally friendly by shutting down rubber mixing at the facility.

Amtel-Vredestein, which claims to be Europe’s 4th largest tyre producer, announced its intention to acquire the Moscow Tyre Plant-M on 26 July in order to meet a surge in demand for its tyres in Russia. It is estimated that the plant will produce approximately 2.2 – 2.5 million tyres per year at full capacity.

“I applaud our team’s ability to quickly adapt the production output at the facility to meet extraordinary demand for high performance Amtel tyres in Russia,” said Amtel-Vredestein CEO, Alexei Gurin.

The company shut down rubber mixing at the the Moscow Tyre Plant-M to reduce the envoronmental impact of tyre production in Moscow. Rubber compound will be shipped to Moscow from the company’s Voronezh factory.

The formal acquisition of the the Moscow Tyre Plant-M is expected to be finalised by the end of 2006. The production of the Taganka tyre brand, previously produced at the Moscow Tyre Plant-M, has been suspended.