Continental Executive Board Announces Reorganisation

Executive Board of Continental AG says it has opened up broader future options for itself by reorganising the duties of its members to greater concentrate on two core business fields. As of October 1, 2008, Continental Executive Board chairman Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann will take the reins of the Automotive group, consisting of the Chassis & Safety, Interior and Powertrain divisions. On the same day, deputy chairman Dr. Alan Hippe will take on management of the Rubber group, made up of the Passenger and Light Truck Tires, Commercial Vehicle Tires and ContiTech. Conti’s Supervisory Board of the company took assenting note of this new task allocation as decided by the Executive Board on September 30. The Supervisory Board also extended Executive Board member Dr. Hans-Joachim Nikolin’s term of office until May 2014.

Dr. Hippe will continue to hold the position of CFO and head the Passenger and Light Truck Tires division within the Rubber group. Heinz-Gerhard Wente will fill the position of Gerhard Lerch as head of the ContiTech division following Mr. Lerch’s planned retirement. Wente will also maintain his position as Executive Board member for HR and director of Labor Relations for the company. The Commercial Vehicles Tires division in the Rubber group will continue to be headed by Dr. Hans-Joachim Nikolin, who is responsible for purchasing as well as quality and the environment for the corporation’s Executive Board.

There will be no changes to the operative management of the divisions contained within Conti’s Automotive group. These remain in the hands of Dr. Ralf Cramer (Chassis & Safety), Helmut Matschi (Interior) and Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann (Powertrain).

“Following an elementary change in strategy, Continental developed two major company groups in the past ten years, primarily through selective acquisitions, major investments and focused expenditures in research and development,” explained Executive Board chairman Dr. Neumann. “These groups are concentrated on two very different business fields: Automotive and Rubber. Following the acquisition of Siemens VDO, we created the three Automotive divisions in the summer of 2007 – already at that time with a common management for the coordination of cross-divisional tasks. The future Automotive group was thus called to life. We are now taking the next logical steps, creating not only a strong Rubber group as a counterpart but, at the same time, setting up very clear management and responsibility structures for both groups.”

“Under the roof of Continental, two company groups have basically achieved positions that are much stronger and more stable, than the initial position of the “classical” Continental at the beginning of the nineties – with regards to sales and margins, production capacities and market position,” stressed vice chairman of the Executive Board Dr. Hippe. “With this move, we are providing both company groups with more freedom so they can react to the respective trends and options in their various business fields with much greater sovereignty. At the same time, the corporation attains the flexibility it needs to respond quickly and decisively to the wide range of future trends and possible options, especially in view of the tough economic environment and the critical situation on the financial markets.”