Conti investing 100 million euros expanding OTR tyre production in Portugal

Continental is investing roughly 100 million euros in the expansion of its Lousado, Portugal radial earthmoving and port tyres production facilities. As a result of the investment, the newly-expanded plant, which will continue to focus on production of tyres with diameters over 24 inches, more than 100 new jobs will be created.

The new production hall is being built adjacent to the radial agricultural tyre production facility opened in 2017. Equipped with state-of-the-art tyre building machinery and automated devices, it is designed to deliver premium products while following “the highest of ergonomic standards”. Once up to speed, the factory will have three earthmover tyre production lines and another three port tyre lines.

In addition to the extended manufacturing facilities, Continental’s Lousado research and development centre is also being expanded.

To date, the Portuguese plant employs more than 2,000 people. In addition to agricultural, port and earthmoving tyres, Lousado also manufactures passenger car tyres with annual production coming to around 18 million tyres. Over the past years, Continental has invested around 150 million euros in increasing the production of passenger car tyres, expanding high-performance tyre production and ramping-up the production of agricultural tyres in Lousado.

“Thanks to the investments and additional capacity created, we are continuing to pursue the growth strategy of the tire division. Both the port and earthmoving segments are among the key growth areas in the commercial specialty tire market. The new production lines clearly reflect our commitment to these segments and the overall OTR business”, said Christian Kötz, member of the Executive Board at Continental and head of the Tire division, adding: “This investment strengthens our footprint in Lousado and transforms the top-efficiency plant into a competence centre for big radial tyres for off-road use”, concludes Kötz.