Tweaked image reflects an evolving Conti

Continental has been in business for 142 years, and since 1882 the company has utilised the ‘prancing horse’ in its logo. This year, Conti’s logo and corporate image has been given the once-over in order to, as the company puts it, underline its change over the years from being a pure tyre maker to becoming one of the world's largest system suppliers for automotive technologies. The horse still features prominently in Continental’s new logo – the company says it now holds a more natural and dynamic position – and it is joined by a new slogan: Continental, the future in motion. This is written in a new font, although the uninitiated may be hard pressed to spot the difference between the new and old.

“Our technological solutions are helping people to enrich the quality of their life through mobility and to structure their living space in a sustainable manner,” explains Continental’s chief executive officer Dr. Elmar Degenhart. “We create fascinating solutions and products for volume production in reliable, first-class quality and faster than our competitors. Our brand symbolises this goal and is the promise to our stake-holders by which we measure ourselves on a daily basis.”

The new logo stands for agility, passion and innovation, and was publicly unveiled at the Continental’s recent Annual Shareholders’ Meeting. The essence of the ‘Continental – The Future in Motion’ brand claim is, the company says, that “Continental moves the future, the future moves Continental.” The focus here is on the importance of mobility as a basic human need; Continental aims to play an active role in shaping the future of mobility by making mobility and transport safer, cleaner, more comfortable, and more easily accessible for everyone.

The Continental tyre brand is globally recognised and continues to form the foundation for Continental’s brand awareness. However, the company now generates well over half of its annual sales in the non-tyre automotive business. In particular, automotive electronics is an area of growing importance and the share of vehicle value occupied by electronics continues to rise. For this reason, Continental is growing very rapidly as a company, at a faster rate than the market average. The strongly increasing industrial sales of the ContiTech division, for example, with customers from raw material extraction, also ensure that Continental is becoming less sensitive to economic fluctuations, particularly those of the automotive industry. The new corporate brand and redesigned product brand are said respond to this overall development.

The Continental brand functions as the company’s “master brand” and also as a core product brand in all business units. Conti says that during the new image’s development process, it was important to use the tyre brand’s strong presence and significance. “All in all, the new and modern look perfectly combines continuity and progress. It will further strengthen Continental’s image while simultaneously reflecting the company’s identity and tradition,” writes the company in a statement explaining the changes. “The Continental logo has been enhanced and thus achieves a higher recognition value and better legibility in equal measure.”