David Smith plans to retire as managing director of Continental Tyre Group at the end of March 2022. Continental has announced that his successor will be Tarik Görgün, who is currently head of OE Tyres Japan and global key account manager for Honda and Subaru. Görgün will take over the role of managing director for the UK and Ireland from 1 March 2022.
Continental Tyre Group Ltd was established in the UK in 1935 as part of Continental AG, a leading global automotive supplier, celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. Continental Tyre Group Ltd manage the sales, marketing and distribution of car, 4×4, van, truck and bus, materials handling, agricultural and earthmover tyres in the UK and Irish markets. The company also runs the successful Conti360° fleet tyre management services with a range of digital solutions to also support commercial fleets. The multi-brand tyre offering in the UK and Ireland incorporates premium brand Continental as well as several well-known, mid-range and exclusive brands such as Uniroyal, Semperit and Best Drive as well as truck retread brands ContiRe and Bandvulc. Continental has made important investments in the UK in recent years through the acquisition of Bandvulc Group Ltd and Tyre Maintenance in 2016 as well as R&J Strang in 2019.
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The importance of retreading as part of the circular economy is well-known in 2021. But when Devon-based Bandvulc started reusing rubber to make retread tyres back in 1971, sustainability was neither part of our everyday vocabulary, nor a standard manufacturing practice. 50 years on from its humble beginnings retreading just 30 tyres a week purely for local use, Bandvulc has grown to become the UK’s foremost tyre retreader, producing one premium quality retread tyre every three minutes to serve commercial vehicle customers across the country. To mark its half-century in operation, and five years on from Bandvulc’s acquisition by Continental Tyres in 2016, Tyres & Accessories looks back on the company’s history of pioneering retread technology, prolonging the lifespan of tyres, reducing waste ending up in landfill, and contributing to lower carbon emissions in tyre production, driving sustainability as it moves into its 51st year.
Following the purchase of Bandvulc in the summer of 2016, then managing director David Smith was promoted into the wider international role of Head of Channel Management Distribution and Region, North Europe for Continental. His 2018 promotion followed a 12-year tenure as UK MD that saw turnover at the UK business more than double. The latest news is that he has returned to the UK, so with all this in mind, Tyres & Accessories recently caught up with David Smith in order to talk about his return as well as both Continental and Bandvulc in the UK.
Continental UK and Ireland has appointed Okan Tamer as its new managing director, effective 1 November 2018. The moves sees Tamer relocate from Turkey, where he was general manager responsible for the presence of the international automotive corporation in that country.
Continental Tyres is supporting The Institute of The Motor Industry (IMI)’s “Driving Change” series of online programmes. The programmes are being produced in partnership with ITN Productions. To this end, the Driving Change will be introduced by national newsreader, Natasha Kaplinsky. For its part Continental is supporting the ‘Innovation’ segment, showing its safety credentials and its long-term commitment to ‘VisionZero.’
Continental Tyre Group Ltd has appointed a new passenger sales director to take over from Phil Scanlan, who retires from the company after 30 years.
Klaus Fremenau has been with Continental for 20 years, starting at Uniroyal after graduating with a university degree. He brings with him extensive experience, with previous roles at Continental Germany such as regional sales manager and his previous position as sales director for car dealer and fleet business.
Figures for new truck vehicle registrations have revealed 2014 has been a “predictably slow year” as the market continues to feel the effects of the introduction of Euro 6 legislation, according to UK managing director for Continental, David Smith.
Smith, who in 2013 was promoted into a wider European market management role, which now includes Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, was speaking at Continental’s annual market trends briefing on 5 December. During his presentation he described the results for 2014 as “unsurprising”, due in part to the rush to register Euro 5 models before the legislative cut-off dates. Year-to-date figures released by the SMMT have shown that total registrations for trucks in 2014 are down by nine per cent, with bus and coach registrations also down this year, by three per cent.
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