<p>German car parts maker Continental on Tuesday said it plans to close a tyre plant, costing 1,800 jobs, in the latest blow to the beleaguered auto industry.</p>.<p>The firm aims to shut down its factory in the city of Aachen in northwestern Germany by the end of 2021.</p>.<p>The coronavirus pandemic has "reinforced" a decline in the tyre sector that has been years in the making, a Continental spokesman said.</p>.<p>However, according to trade union IG BCE, which represents the company's rubber division employees, the factory was "in the black" up until the spring of 2020.</p>.<p>"The cuts in the rubber business can't be explained either by the transformation of the car industry or by the coronavirus crisis. This is simply a matter of cutting for the sake of cutting," said IG BCE representative Francesco Grioli, who also sits on Continental's supervisory board.</p>.<p>"This will meet with our resistance at all levels."</p>.<p>The Hanover-based company announced just two weeks ago that it would expand its restructuring programme.</p>.<p>Around 30,000 jobs globally will be "modified, relocated or made redundant", including 13,000 in Germany, as Continental aims to save more than a billion euros ($1.2 billion) annually from 2023.</p>.<p>The company blamed "persistently low global vehicle production as well as the deepening economic crisis as a result of the coronavirus pandemic."</p>.<p>Continental last month said the group's net profit plunged 41 percent to 485 million euros in the second quarter.</p>.<p>Fellow German car parts maker Schaeffler recently said it would cut 4,400 jobs as it struggles to recover from the fallout of weeks of lockdowns earlier in the year.</p>.<p>edf/mfp/wai</p>
<p>German car parts maker Continental on Tuesday said it plans to close a tyre plant, costing 1,800 jobs, in the latest blow to the beleaguered auto industry.</p>.<p>The firm aims to shut down its factory in the city of Aachen in northwestern Germany by the end of 2021.</p>.<p>The coronavirus pandemic has "reinforced" a decline in the tyre sector that has been years in the making, a Continental spokesman said.</p>.<p>However, according to trade union IG BCE, which represents the company's rubber division employees, the factory was "in the black" up until the spring of 2020.</p>.<p>"The cuts in the rubber business can't be explained either by the transformation of the car industry or by the coronavirus crisis. This is simply a matter of cutting for the sake of cutting," said IG BCE representative Francesco Grioli, who also sits on Continental's supervisory board.</p>.<p>"This will meet with our resistance at all levels."</p>.<p>The Hanover-based company announced just two weeks ago that it would expand its restructuring programme.</p>.<p>Around 30,000 jobs globally will be "modified, relocated or made redundant", including 13,000 in Germany, as Continental aims to save more than a billion euros ($1.2 billion) annually from 2023.</p>.<p>The company blamed "persistently low global vehicle production as well as the deepening economic crisis as a result of the coronavirus pandemic."</p>.<p>Continental last month said the group's net profit plunged 41 percent to 485 million euros in the second quarter.</p>.<p>Fellow German car parts maker Schaeffler recently said it would cut 4,400 jobs as it struggles to recover from the fallout of weeks of lockdowns earlier in the year.</p>.<p>edf/mfp/wai</p>