Continental officially broke ground last week on the site of its new High Performance Technology Center (HPTC) – a new UHP production line at Continental’s Korbach plant in Germany. The approximately 129,167-square foot building is expected to be completed by the end of May 2015 with operations scheduled to begin in July 2016.

According to Continental, the HPTC will produce high-performance tires for supercars and powerful sports cars. It will also help Continental test out production processes that could be introduced across other Continental tire plants.

“The ground-breaking ceremony marks not only the start of work on a new production line, but also effectively the extension of our research and development department into the Korbach tire plant,” said Nikolai Setzer, head of the tire division and member of the Continental AG executive board. “We are investing a total of €45 million (approximately $58 million) here. This not only enables us to introduce technological upgrades for production of ultra-high-performance tires, it also allows us to show our OE customers we are acting in their interests by pushing ahead with technological advances so we can offer even better products in the future. The process expertise we gain as a result will be channeled into all our tire plants and product lines.”

According to the company, Continental increased the amount it had originally earmarked for the initiative by around €5 million (approximately $6.46 million) in order to give the new facility even greater capability.

Lothar Salokat, plant manager of Continental Korbach, said that work will start at the new facility on a test basis next September.

“We’re expecting to be able to produce around 350,000 tires annually at the new HPTC once regular operation is underway,” said Salokat. “The new facility will not only benefit the drivers of extremely exclusive vehicles, but also the safety of all other road users.”