Conti Still Interested in Chinese Production

While no official word has been given, Continental reportedly retains very strong intentions of setting up its first tyre manufacturing facility in China. Klaus Kreipe, head of the tyremaker’s China operations, told the Reuters news agency on July 10 that “we are more than just seriously considering to start local production.”

This is not the first time such reports have come from the German tyremaker – in March 2006 Tyres & Accessories printed news that Conti CFO Alan Hippe was still weighing up its options regarding production in China and in August we reported that the company was looking at two potential locations for a greenfield factory project. Mr. Kreipe’s latest comments did not include a timetable of when any production projects would be established.