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.”
Following the news that three tyre manufacturers are listed on the 2020 CDP A list, three brake makers can also be found on the ranking – Brembo, Bosch and Continental. Brembo achieved the best result with As in both climate change and water security. Bosch scored an A in the climate change category.
Strong words from one of the unions representing workers at the Continental tyre factory in Aachen, Germany. Speaking with Munich-based newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, IG BCE trade union chairman Michael Vassiliadis stressed that the planned job cuts “will be expensive”. He also claimed that Continental has turned away potential investors.
Continental AG is aiming to be completely carbon-neutral by 2050. One of the earliest landmarks in the plans sees Continental move to being carbon-neutral in some areas within two years. Specifically, from 2022 Continental will make its global business for emission-free cars, buses, trains and other vehicles carbon-neutral. The programme covers the company’s production processes as well as their upstream stages and recycling at the end of use. In this way, the technology company is helping the industry make emission-free mobility completely carbon-neutral.
Continental is launching ContiConnect Live, a digital tyre pressure monitoring solution designed to complement ContiPressureCheck and ContiConnect Yard. With ContiConnect Live, the collected data on tyre pressure and temperature are sent in real time to the cloud using a central telematics unit. In addition, the unit transmits the vehicle’s location using GPS and records the operating hours of the tyres. Fleet managers have a quicker and more comfortable overview of the condition of the vehicles regardless of their location. By evaluating the information, the fleet benefits from reduced downtime, lower maintenance costs and an extended operating time.
In addition to taking the honours in the Auto Express all-season tyre test here in the UK, the Continental AllSeasonContact is the top-performing all-season tyre in the latest tyre test from Slovakian car magazine Autozurnal. The publication rated the AllSeasonContact ‘very good’ in its joint test of winter and all-season tyres. The Bridgestone Blizzak LM005 gave the strongest winter tyre performance and Autozurnal also rewarded it with a ‘very good’ rating.
With sales of all-season tyres being one of the good news stories of an otherwise challenging year, at the end of November Auto Express published its latest test comparing the performance of leading year-round tyres. Continental’s AllSeasonContact was the outright winner, but Goodyear’s Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 and Hankook Kinergy 4S2 were not far behind it in second and third place respectively.
September’s new van registrations represented a bright spot in a dire year for new vehicles in Europe. While European Union van registrations have declined 22.8 per cent over the course of 2020, September figures registered double-digit growth. In the UK, the figures are even more polarised, with the light commercial vehicle market down 27.4 per cent for the first three quarters, September growth was nearly the opposite, over 25 per cent up. Though it should also be noted that the UK figures reflect a weak month in September 2019. While the new vehicle picture is clearly complex, the demand for new vans to replace less efficient older models, and to expand fleets, is present even amid this pandemic year. And with the demand – even legislative requirement – to downgrade emissions, OE tyre suppliers will be required to develop increasingly more efficient tyre solutions. And there are more reasons for tyre suppliers to the replacement markets in mature North American and European markets to feel optimistic about their prospects, both for the reasons laid out in the previous analysis of the market, and thanks to some startling statistics relating to the growth in e-commerce laid out by Continental.
In the USA, General Motors has issued a safety recall for certain 2020 and 2021 model-year Chevy, Cadillac, Buick and GMC pickup trucks and crossovers. According to GM, the affected vehicles were delivered with Continental brand tyres that were overcured during the manufacturing process. The news follows Continental’s recall of 12,000 Continental and General Tire branded products earlier in November. The GM recall affects over 7000 vehicles in the US market.
Financial analysts have reiterated their “buy” rating on Continental AG shares, while also raising price target from 150 euros from 123 euros previously. In short, Continental AG is expected to continue outperforming consensus estimates. Writing in an investors note dated 18 November, Jefferies equity research said: “Tyre margins will return to an industry leading greater than 15 per cent in full-year 2021. Conti remains among the least liked stocks in the sector which provides positive surprise potential.”
Continental AG has appointed Nikolai Setzer (49) as its new executive board chairman until March 2024, effective 1 December 2020. He succeeds Dr. Elmar Degenhart (61), who is stepping down for health reasons, effective 30 November 2020. Setzer is widely seen as a safe pair of hands for the company who has been prepared for the position for years.
Following Continental’s 5 November recall of roughly 12,000 Continental and General brand passenger vehicle tyres sold to vehicle manufacturers and the North American replacement markets, company representatives have confirmed that the UK and European markets are not affected. Continental estimates that approximately 39 of the 12,000 tyres recalled in the USA are defective.
The first truck tyres made at Continental’s greenfield factory in Clinton, Mississippi, US are being delivered four years after the company broke ground on the project. The Clinton plant is Continental’s first new plant for the truck tyre business globally in more than 10 years. It produces large truck and bus tyres for the North American market and will employ 500 people by the end of 2020. Clinton is Continental’s second location producing truck tyres in the US. The other can be found in Mount Vernon, Illinois. According to the Continental, more than 280 employees collaborated safely to deliver the first shipment of tyres.
Continental’s nine-month 2020 figures show the tyre and automotive supplier “did remarkably well operationally in the third quarter” despite the “still very volatile market environment”, according to outgoing CEO Dr Elmar Degenhart.
Continental is recalling approximately 12,000 Continental and General brand passenger car and light truck tyres. The recall is voluntary and there haven’t been any reports of accidents.
With the 2020 US election shaping up to be the closest in the last two decades, no-one can yet say who will be the winning. However, share price analysts that are literally experts at hedging their bets, have compiled a list of post-Election share picks. In short, while growth is expected across the board in 2021, the recently-berated Goodyear is not the only tyre brand that would stand to gain from the end of Trump presidency.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
Continental
Continental
Continental
Chevrolet
Continental
Continental AG
Continental AG
David Dibert; Pixabay