Hannover-based Continental AG is a leading automotive supplier and – according to the company – is “the choice of leading car manufacturers, offering award-winning tyres that deliver responsive braking in all weather conditions.”
Infinity Tyres continues its worldwide brand expansion with the announcement of the appointment of Tim Sanders as general manager for Infinity Australia and New Zealand. Following the appointments of Martin West and Martin Lumb in Europe, the latest recruitment action continues the strengthening of the global Infinity management team and demonstrates the commitment and investment now being placed behind the Infinity brand.
A number of new sizes have been added to Continental’s low steer and drive tyre line-up in North America to cater to large capacity and car-carrier truck operators. Sales of the new low profile HSL2 Eco Plus (Heavy Steer Long-Haul) and HDL2 Eco Plus (Heavy Drive Long-Haul) tyre in size 295/60R22.5 begin in November, Continental Tire North America reports. This particular size, the company adds, is a full three inches shorter than the 275/80R22.5 size product, but each has 1,215 more lbs. additional carrying capacity in a single fitment for load range G.
On December 1 Karl-Thomas Neumann, former chief executive of Continental AG, will start in a new role with Volkswagen. Neumann will take on the newly created role of group chief officer for electric traction, and in this position will report directly to VW CEO Martin Winterkorn. This is not the first time that Neumann, who left Conti in August, has worked with the carmaker – he held various positions within the Volkswagen’s electronics operation between 1999 and 2004.
Continental Commercial Vehicle Tires Retread Europe has become the latest company to join the Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau (TRIB). Upon announcing the division’s signing up, Christian Beindorff, Head of Operations Retread Europe for Continental, commented: “We are pleased to be a member of TRIB and look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship between our organisations.”
Continental Tyre Group has appointed Steve Ashcroft to the role of OE manager for its UK & Ireland truck tyre business. In his new position, Ashcroft will liaise directly with both manufacturers and fleets on all OE truck and trailer activities. Commenting on his appointment, Ashcroft commented: “It’s an interesting time to be taking on the OE Manager role, but my years of experience as well as the insight gained from working in both the manufacturing and supplier side of the business, I’m convinced will be of great benefit.”
Continental Tire North America has extended its partnership with GGI European Tuning, and will be the sole tyre supplier for all Carlsson Mercedes-Benz tuning packages sold in the United States. The exclusive use of Continental brand tyres extends Conti’s ongoing relationship with GGI – Hartge BMW and Sportec Porsche tuning packages that GGI sells in the United States are already fitted with Continental tyres as standard.
Former Continental AG CEO Manfred Wennemer’s tenure as one of five Opel Trust board members ended on November 7 following his resignation in protest against political interference over the planned sale of vehicle manufacturer Opel. According to Reuters, while Wennemer’s act of protest against the “constant interference” from German politicians in potentially embarrassing to Berlin, his resignation is however “essentially symbolic” following General Motor’s recent change of mind regarding its European subsidiary.
To liven up the journey along the road to next year’s football world cup, sponsor Continental AG has launched a new contest on its www.contisoccerworld.co.uk football website. The ‘ContiFanContest’, which can be tackled in any of four languages, is a video contest in which six of eight tasks on offer must be completed. The main prize for all qualifying participants is one of 11 sets of three day all-inclusive trips for two to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, including flights, hotel accommodation, a safari and tickets for a match in Johannesburg. The ContiFanContest will close on 04 December 2009, the date on which the groups will be drawn in South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
On November 4 Continental AG announced the formation of an exclusive partnership covering the sale of its passenger car, light commercial vehicle and truck tyres in Saudi Arabia. This role will now be handled by Almutlak Trade & Industries. Continental reports its new MENENA business unit will focus upon business in the Near and Middle East and North Africa, a concentration of effort the German tyre major describes as “another logical step in building up a sales network.”
Continental may buy Schaeffler Group’s automotive assets (namely LuK clutches and/or INA bearings) and then float its Rubber Group to pay for it. That’s the view of Klaus Pflum, head of investment bank Nomura's European automotive mergers and acquisitions operations, who made this prediction at the Reuters Auto Summit in Paris. In his view Continental is more likely to opt for an initial public offering (IPO) and this route may raise more money than a divestment and direct sale: "I don't see any banks who are willing to finance a four to five billion euro debt ticket,” Pflum told the conference.
A partnership initiated between Continental Tire North America and Hoosier Racing Tire carries the hope of taking the convergence of the high performance street tyre and racing tyre industries a “significant step forward.” On October 30 the two companies announced their intention to invest “substantially” into a strategic alliance involving marketing, business and research and development. Specifically, the two companies have assembled a “team of industry veterans” who now become the driving force behind the collaborative marketing, product development and implementation process.
Continental AG’s Rubber Group led the way in total group pre-tax profits (EBIT) of 413.4 million euros in the third quarter of 2009, with EBIT for the first nine months of this financial year totalling 662.1 million euros. The impressive profits, made from group sales of 5.337 billion euros in the third quarter (third quarter 2008: 5.892 billion euros) are widely seen as opening the door for Continental’s previously discussed 1 billion euro capital increase/ refinancing negotiations – “to be concluded no later than end of 1st quarter of 2010.” However, it wasn’t all good news and special effects of around 1.36 billion, and in particular a goodwill impairment of 875.8 million in the Automotive Group cannot be ignored.
Schaeffler Group and the IG Metall union agreed to form a joint committee which, according to the company, “represents the first joint step towards the agreed implementation of co-determination in the company. The joint committee consists of six representatives from each party and is intended for the exchange of information about issues related to the economic situation and further development of the Schaeffler Group. A representative of the Schaeffler Group will act as the chairman and an employee representative will be deputy chairman of the committee. The joint committee will hold four ordinary meetings per year.
A Reuters report suggests that Pirelli is preparing a full separation of its tyre business from its real estate concerns in order to boost the Group’s value in the wake of improving tyre financial results. The Milanese broker Equita is reported as saying, “We believe some recent moves at the corporate level are clear pointers that will lead to a separation of Pirelli & C Real Estate PECR.MI from the group to transform Pirelli & C from a holding company to a tyre maker.” While the move is unlikely to happen in the short-term (separations of this kind generally take up to a year, says Reuters), the concentration on its tyre business could be motivated by the fact that Pirelli trails the market caps of Michelin, of whose cap the report states Pirelli’s is about a quarter at 2 billion euros, and Continental, though it is active in similar markets and sectors.
Uniroyal has launched a new tyre for MPVs and light vans – the RainMax 2. According to the company, the tread pattern on this new rain tyre has been completely re-developed to ensure “safe, economical performance on both wet and dry roads.” New design features centre on a 17 per cent shorter wet braking distance the than that of the previous model.
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