Over the past two decades, many things of interest have happened in the tyre industry, reported in the pages of NEUE REIFENZEITUNG and our twentieth anniversary is a good time to look back over some of these events. It is not our intention to produce an historic overview, rather to remind you of some of the significant happenings in the market which were important at the time and are still having an effect today. For example, we have seen many takeover attempts of tyre companies – both friendly and unfriendly – from which we have learned that biggest is not always best. Fifteen years ago, the Goodyear group was worth more at the Stock Exchange than today; now it is worth $4 bn, fifteen years ago, Goldsmith offered $6 bn. There have been many changes in the tyre trade too, and methods of selling tyres have changed significantly. Cooperations have been successful, but above all we have seen the development of Partnerships between the industry and the trade; today the basis for these agreements is more rational than emotional. Last but not least there are a lot of people who have made the news over the past twenty years. Among these are tyre dealer Schütze, the man who awarded himself numerous academic qualifications, and tyre dealer Hesse, who was the brightest shooting star of the early 80s, and bankrupt in 1984. On the other hand there is the tyre dealer from Weiden, Peter Unger, who had a big success story with his ATU stores; a success which is still on-going. Among the many other personalities worth mentioning is Horst W. Urban, the man whose actions ensured that Continental has remained an independent company, and Marco Tronchetti Provera; probably the most successful tyre company manager over the last decade.