Michelin confirms plan to build car tyre plant in Brazil

ERJ staff report (DS)

Itatiaia, Brazi -- Michelin plans to invest R$400 million (euro 130 million) in a new car tyre plant to be located in Itatiaia, Brazil. The plant, due on stream in the second quarter of 2011, will serve the domestic and Mercosur market, said a Michelin spokeswoman.

The spokeswoman said Michelin will start building the plant in the first quarter of 2009 and when complete, the company expects it to employ about 200. She declined to give a figure for the capacity of the unit, but said, "the capacity will suit the demand of the market."

The announcement came as the company representative in Brazil, Luiz Fernando Beraldi signed an agreement with the governor of the Rio de Janeiro district yesterday."

Michelin already operates a car tyre plant in Brazil, completed in 1999 and a truck tyre plant completed in 1981. The car tyre unit, also in Itatiaia, makes high performance tyres, aimed mainly at the export market.