German Continental AG, a world-leading tire manufacturer, has completed construction of the first phase of its passenger car tire plant in Hefei of China's Anhui province, the China Business News reported Wednesday.

According to Nikolai Setzer, a member of Continental's executive board and the head of the passenger car and light-truck tire division, Continental will finally be able to produce and sell passenger car tires from local production in China. The plant will have the capacity to produce four million tires annually.

Continental plans to invest a total of 185 million euro (about 1.626 billion yuan) in the Hefei plant. Based on previous plans, the first batch of tires produced in the Hefei plant will hit the Chinese market in early 2011.

The Hefei plant was expected to start production in 2009. However, construction of the plant was suspended in 2008 due to the global financial crisis.

China's business press carried the story above on Wednesday. China.org.cn has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.