Alcoa Increases Dura-Bright Wheel Capacity

Alcoa Wheel Products has announced that it will install a new Dura-Bright line at its manufacturing facility in Székesfehérvár, Hungary. The new line will be the third such facility and will provide a significant addition in wheel capacity. Both passenger car and commercial vehicle wheels will be processed through this new line in Hungary. The new facility will begin producing Dura-Bright XBR wheels in 2008.

Until the new Dura-Bright line in Hungary is operational, Dura-Bright wheels in Europe will be continue to be supplied from Cleveland, Ohio, USA as well as Alcoa’s newest Dura-Bright facility located in Monterey, Mexico. The Monterey facility began operations earlier this year and is expected to help shorten European lead times for Dura-Bright wheels.

Alcoa Wheel Products recently introduced Dura-Bright wheels with XBR technology, an enhanced version of its original Dura-Bright wheels. Dura-Bright wheels with XBR technology feature the same patented treatment, but are 53 per cent more reflective and have 74 per cent more image clarity.

“The demand for Dura-Bright wheels has been absolutely phenomenal and with the introduction of Dura-Bright automotive wheels we expect this to increase substantially,” said Curtis Samford, Alcoa Wheel Products’ global vice president of marketing. “This new line will allow us to keep pace with demand while also providing our European customers with more efficient and timely product delivery in 2008 and beyond.”