As of 1 November 2023, Gerd Bartels takes over responsibility for Continental’s Specialty Tires business area. He succeeds Wolfgang Thomale, who Continental recently appointed head of the Surface Solutions business area within its ContiTech group sector.
Hats off to the team at the Continental tyre plant in Timisoara, Romania, who have produced 300 million tyres. The Timisoara plant recently celebrated both its silver anniversary and this impressive production milestone.
Effective 1 August, Manja Greimeier is heading the Original Equipment business area within the Continental Tires business. In this capacity, she is responsible for the tyre manufacturer’s global original equipment business for both passenger and commercial vehicles. Greimeier’s predecessor, David O’Donnell, recently took over responsibility for global research and development activities within Continental’s passenger car tyre replacement business.
To support the digitalisation of tyre solutions, production processes and business workflows at Continental Tires around the world, the company has assembled a team of IT and related specialists at a new facility in Portugal. This Solution Center is located near the Continental tyre plant in Lousado and employs around 80 people, with plans already in place to double the workforce by 2026.
Amongst recently-announced changes to the Tire Industry Project (TIP) was the addition of Continental as a fourth co-chair. The company describes involvement in this capacity as “further emphasising its comprehensive commitment to sustainability.” Continental says it will contribute resources to TIP as well as its “long-term expertise in the areas of end-of-life tyres, sustainability assessment methods, and sustainable materials.”
Continental has announced new heads for its passenger car and truck tyre replacement business in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) and APAC (Asia-Pacific) regions. Ferdinand Hoyos (45) will manage Continental’s EMEA replacement tyre business, while Dalibor Kalina (47) will take over Hoyos’s former role as APAC head. The appointees will take up their new positions on 1 January, 2022. Hoyos has been heading Continental’s replacement tyre business in the APAC region since 2018. He succeeds Philipp v. Hirschheydt (47), who is moving to Continental’s Automotive group sector.
With Continental AG celebrating 150 years in business during 2021, Tyres & Accessories recently interviewed Christian Kötz, Head of the Tires division and member of the Continental AG Executive Board in order to get an insight into how the global company is handling the challenges of today in light of its long history.
Tyres & Accessories: Continental celebrated its 150th anniversary in October. For a large part of its history Continental has been primarily known as a tyre manufacturer. But what does the Tires business unit mean for Continental today?
Continental has initiated a restructure of its management following a meeting of its Supervisory Board on Thursday. Board members Helmut Matschi and Frank Jourdan will leave the company prematurely. Matschi (58) and Jourdan (61) were originally to stay in position until 2024. As of January 1, 2022, the company will retain only five board members. The group will also integrate its activities into three corporate divisions: Automotive, Tires and ContiTech.
The Tires business may have been an area of strength for Continental in 2020, but this doesn’t exempt it from the company’s recently-expanded restructuring plans. Upcoming changes include the closure of the tyre factory in Aachen, Germany, a facility Continental calls its “most cost-intensive” site in Europe. Continental covers these changes, and indeed its overall roadmap for the tyre segment, in its new Vision 2030 strategic programme.
Starting 1 April, Silke Bernhardt has taken up the newly-created position of Head of Communications & Public Affairs within Continental’s Tires business area. She is based at the company’s headquarters in Hannover, Germany and shoulders responsibility for the strategic direction of internal and external communications. Bernhardt also manages the global communications units within Asia, North and South America, and Europe.
At a meeting on 14 March, the Supervisory Board of German tyre and automotive systems maker Continental approved the next stage of one of the largest organisational changes in its history. Several new appointments at Executive Board level were announced, including the transfer of Nikolai Setzer to the company’s Automotive Group.
A reshuffle of upper management within Continental’s Tire division took effect yesterday. The new line-up sees Christian Kötz leading the division’s Commercial Vehicle Tires business unit and his previous role of head of the Passenger and Light Truck Replacement Tires EMEA taken over by Philipp von Hirschheydt. The latter’s previous position, head of Passenger and Light Truck Replacement Tires APAC, is now the responsibility of Ferdinand Hoyos.
European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) has appointed Continental’s executive vice president Christian Kötz and Thierry du Granrut, from the Syndicat National du Caoutchouc et des Polymères as president and vice president respectively, effective 1 January 2015.
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