BRATISLAVA, Oct 22 (Reuters) - A joint venture of Germany's Continental and Slovakia's Matador will boost its truck tyre output by 10 percent to 1.75 million next year, a senior executive said on Wednesday.
Continental Matador General Director Petr Sehnal told Reuters output would reach the 1.6 million mark this year, up from 1.5 million tyres produced last year, helped by a 27-million euro package the firm has invested since 2002.
"Next year we will increase production by 10 percent compared to this year," Sehnal said.
The capacity increase will make the Slovak unit the largest maker of truck tyres in Europe.
Sehnal said the company plans to raise production even further in 2005, and will spend 13 million euros to increase capacity.
"We will gradually reach the capacity of two million tyres in 2005," Sehnal said.
The Continental-Matador joint venture has already put 127 million euros in total into its production facilities since it was created in 1999.
On its own, Matador also makes tyres for the Czech Republic's Skoda and other end users and is a key element in Slovakia's booming car-making industry.