The company will use Costa Rica as a platform for the exportation of its products to the US, making use of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement with the US.

The 172,000-square-foot production facility will make electronic components for car transmissions and is to be located in the Coyol Free Zone in Alajuela.

Costa Rica will be the third Latin American country where the company has established production operations; it already has seven plants in Mexico and Brazil.

“Continental is the first company of the electronics car-part sub-sector to set up here. It puts Costa Rica on the world map and helps us position ourselves first in line in the European market and in this particular niche,” said Gabriela Llobet, general director of Costa Rica’s investment agency, CINDE.