Additional Orders From Ford For Continental

Continental has announced that it has received an additional order from Ford for over 2 million car tyres. Whether or not this is at the expense of Firestone is unclear. Continental now claims to be one of the biggest tyre suppliers for Ford in Europe, if not the biggest.

In the US the tyre manufacturer is in dire straits. The Continental General tyre company is facing a loss in the US this year of up to 100 million Euro despite the fact that Continental also took advantage of the Firestone recall on the US replacement market. It is expected that Continental General will make another loss next year of up to 50 million Euro.

The company also announced a restructuring program for the North American tyre market, aimed at saving costs of 90 million Dollars within 3 years. Presently Ford is not accepting General tyres as OE in the USA after the NHTSA said that the claim rate of the General Ameri 550 S is much higher than the Firestone tyre, which it replaces..