Continental Introduces Three Tyres For US Market

At the Sema show, Continental Tire North America (CTNA) gave debuts to three new uhp tyres, aimed exclusively at the North American market.

Andreas Gerstenberger, Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing, spoke to T&A about the new tyres, the first of which is the ExtremeContact DW. This tyre, said Gerstenberger, is specially engineered to deliver serious performance on both dry and wet roads and features completely new technology exclusive to Continental Tire. It delivers excellent traction and responsive handling in both wet and dry conditions, improved ride comfort, better mileage and industry leading rolling resistance levels.

One of the new features on the ExtremeContact DW is the DW Tuned Performance Indicators. These are visible letters built into the second rib of the tread and are designed to alert drivers of the tyre’s optimal performance levels. “D” indicates the tyre is at optimum tread depth for dry conditions. “W” indicates the tyre is at optimum tread depth for wet conditions. As the tyre wears and the letters are still visible the tyre performance remains optimised for that particular weather condition. The ExtremeContact DW will be available in 88 sizes.

The second new tyre is the Extreme DWS (tuned for Dry, Wet and Snow) and is an all-season uhp tyre, in 89 sizes. Like the ExtremeContact DW, it has Tuned Performance Indicators visible in the tread. However, in addition to D and W there is an “S”, which stands for Snow and, when visible, shows that the tyre is optimised for performance in snowy conditions.

One of the truest tests of a winter tyre is how it performs in ice and snow and CTNA says that its third new tyre – the ExtremeWinterContact – delivers serious performance in winter weather conditions. The tyre is engineered with an advanced tread compound and structured siping to dramatically improve ice and snow traction. It also delivers noticeable improvements in wet performance, excellent fuel efficiency, extended wear and ride comfort; and considerable improvements in dry performance.

ExtremeWinterContact also features elevated lateral grooves which result in a stiffer pattern for improved dry handling; and inclined longitudinal grooves for greater driving force for excellent traction and braking on snow. Multiple gripping edges give excellent traction and braking on snow, and a high-tech flexible tread compound, combined with high sipe density, work together to deliver reduced braking distance, even on ice.

The three new tyres will be released on to the US market during 2009, said Andreas Gerstenberger and they maintain CTNA’s tradition of innovation; a tradition which has seen the company introduce more than 700 sizes into the market by the end of 2008.