Continental's new American plant shipped the first batch of tires

Continental's new truck tire plant in Clinton, Mississippi, USA began shipping tires, and the first shipment was shipped to Southern Tire Mart, the country's largest independent truck tire dealer.

In a joint statement, the companies said the decision to ship the first tires to a local dealer “was in honor of a long-term partnership between the two tire giants,” and that Continental is also demonstrating its commitment to contribute to the Mississippi economy. “We are proud of our partnership with Continental and we are delighted to be partnering with their new venture, which has created and will continue to create new jobs in the state,” said STM co-founder Jim Duff.

The Clinton facility is Continental's second truck tire plant in the United States, while the first opened in Mount Vernon, Illinois in 1988 and is capable of producing up to 10,300 tires per day. The capacity of the new plant is 750,000 tires per year.

“Consumer growth in truck tires has continued to grow over the past decade, both for new truck and bus tires and retreaded tires,” Continental said. “In view of this growth, we have decided to expand our capacity in the US, and the Clinton facility is our first new truck tire plant in over 10 years.”

The new plant will enable the company to better serve the North American market and deliver tires to customers faster, according to Tom Fanning, manager of the US division of Continental.