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.”
A new study commissioned by Continental concludes that male and female drivers zone-out into different worlds when switched to ‘autopilot’ and hope for different benefits from future automotive advances. For example, women drivers are nearly twice as likely as their male counterparts to compile a mental shopping or ‘to do’ list whilst men listen to music, the radio or podcasts.
With the imminent demise of the 14-year old Yokohama Continental Tire joint venture withJapan’s Yokohama Rubber, German tyre maker Continental is gearing up to take over direct deliveries of its tyres to vehicle manufacturers in Japan and Korea. “From 1 April 2016, we will solely supply Japanese and Korean original equipment customers ourselves. This means we will directly offer our premium Continental tyres in Japan and Korea,” shares Tansu Isik, who heads Continental’s APAC region original equipment passenger car tyre business.
The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. and Continental AG have announced that they will wind up their joint venture company, Yokohama Continental Tire Co., Ltd. (YCC), at the end of this month. The two tyre makers believe the 50/50 joint venture, which was established in Q1 2002, has served its purpose.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber has narrowly beat Michelin to be named Fortune magazine’s most admired tyre maker for 2016. The publication ranked Goodyear as its third most admired company in the motor vehicle parts category, ahead of Michelin at number five and Continental at number eight.
Along with Nokian’s admission and apology for “mistakes” in its practices concerning tyre tests, the Finnish tyre manufacturer stated that “several operators in the field… have been suspected or evidence has been presented against them of differences between tyres in magazine tests and tyres that are for sale in stores.” After the Nokian statement’s implication of other tyre manufacturers in malpractice regarding independent tyre testing, Michelin immediately responded by stating categorically that it has “never designed or manufactured tyres specifically for tests conducted by the media, automobile associations or any other organisations.” Tyres & Accessories approached 11 more of the world’s leading manufacturers, many of whose products regularly appear in magazine tests, for their response to the question: Have you ever designed or manufactured tyres specifically for tests conducted by the media, automobile associations or any other organisations? Listed below are their responses.
The ContiPressureCheck tyre pressure monitoring system from Continental has been approved for operational use by Polish bus manufacturer Solaris, and will be fitted as original equipment on the city and regional buses it produces. Solaris began delivering the first 60 city buses equipped with ContiPressureCheck to a customer in Krakow at the start of February.
First Industrial Tyres (FIT) has been named as Continental Specialty Tyres’ exclusive agent for the north east of England. According to the company, this greatly supports the expansion of Continental’s premium fitting and servicing network throughout the UK and Ireland.
The Continental HT3 trailer tyre, specifically the low profile size 445/45 R 19.5 fitment, has won the tyre maker an iF Design Award. The 58-person iF Design Award judging panel voted the tyre a winner in the ‘product’ award category; the award will be presented to Continental at a ceremony held in Munich, Germany on 26 February. A Conti Hybrid HT3 445/45 R 19.5 tyre is also on display at the iF Design exhibition in Hamburg, where the judges made their decision.
Having launched at Autopromotec in May 2015, the Oak Group’s Davanti Tyres private brand has grown quickly, with the appointments of Sean Maddocks to UK and Ireland sales director, and Andrew Billingham and Andy Kent as regional sales managers. In addition to growing the management team, the brand has undergone a series of benchmarking tests for its current passenger car tyres at the large Applus+ Idiada proving ground near Barcelona, which has grown in stature since 1994 to become what is widely thought of as Europe’s premier independent facility – an opinion backed by the comparatively large number of tyre manufacturers currently testing on site.
Continental has confirmed its intention to erect a new commercial vehicle tyre factory in the USA, and while no start of construction date has been announced the company says it expects to break ground in the next few months “in cadence with market demands.” The tyre maker anticipates that in the long-term an investment of approximately US$1.4 billion will go into the project.
Indian financial daily The Economic Times reports that American private equity firm KKR & Co. L.P. has begun initial talks that may result in the sale of its 90 per cent share in off-highway tyre specialist Alliance Tire Group. The publication names Sumitomo, Continental and Michelin as potential buyers, however it notes that no confirmation of these firms’ interest has been given.
Continental Automotive Systems has reportedly admitted supplying “potentially defective air bag control units to 5 million vehicles used by Honda, Fiat Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz, and three other manufacturers built over a five-year period worldwide”, according to a Reuters report. Continental Automotive told the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that electronic systems built between 2006 and 2010 could fail and air bags may not deploy in a crash or may deploy without warning.
The US state of Mississippi has approved an incentive package for a US$1.45 billion tyre factory that Continental intends to build in the state. The incentives approved by the Mississippi State Legislature include providing loans of $263 million and various tax breaks. Mississippi will also assist with site acquisition and preparation work, and help with the cost of building the facility.
Hessian State Secretary Mathias Samson, opened Continental AG’s research workshop in the House of Logistics and Mobility (HOLM) in Frankfurt am Main on 2 February. The so-called “Trend Antenna” event sees students and academics work with Continental for the purpose of developing the future of mobility and research software technologies and algorithms. The event is the fourth institution of its kind at Continental, after Regensburg, Shanghai and Guadalajara (Mexico). A total of around 170 students from around 10 different disciplines work with Continental at the Trend Antennas.
Continental launched its latest light commercial winter tyre this season, the VanContact Winter, with a number of winter performance improvements. Chief among these was a substantial 15 per cent reduction in rolling resistance over the VancoWinter 2 – achieved with an advanced silica compound that reduces tyre deformation on entering the contact patch – but snow and wet braking distances were also reduced.
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