Continental horse tires sales of 8.8 billion euros last year

In March 2012, Continental Group announced the successful completion of the tire business division in fiscal 2011. “The sales of passenger car and light truck tires and commercial vehicle tires totaled 8.8 billion euros. The adjusted EBIT was about 1.2 billion euros. The economic situation in 2011 was extremely difficult, and our growth rate was higher than the previous year. Still reached 7%.” Nikolai Setzer, board member and president of the tires division, said: “Raw material prices are now soaring – rubber group's procurement costs are close to 1 billion euros. In this case, It is indeed a source of pride that the Continental Group is still able to achieve such impressive performance. We will rationalize the use of operating income to provide economic support for our intended development goals."

On August 1, 2011, Continental's passenger car, light truck tires and commercial vehicle tire divisions were merged into the tire division. On December 31, 2011, the tires division had a total of 41,135 employees worldwide, with a total of 22 production plants and R&D bases. Zetzl is especially optimistic about the market development opportunities of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). He explained: “In order to open up the BRIC market, we launched a special investment project with a total investment of 1 billion euros.” The investment project aims to actively explore the most promising markets and adjust the tires for passenger cars and light trucks. The production of commercial vehicle tires is in line with long-term market demand. The production capacity of the plant in Camacari, Brazil doubled, and the project was launched in early 2011; the new plant in Kaluga, Russia broke ground in November 2011; after acquiring Indian tire manufacturer Modi Tyres Co., Ltd., the Continental Group plans to build its own Passenger car and light truck tire production plants, and expand truck tire production. In addition, the preparations for the construction of a new plant in Sumter, South Carolina, are ongoing, and the plant in Mount Vernon, Illinois, is also under construction.

The products produced by the new factory will mainly meet the needs of the local market. The company plans to allocate between 300 million and 500 million euros per year for the expansion of the plant and explore the potential of the markets around the world. In 2011, the tires division's global market sold 122 million passenger car and light truck tires and 7 million commercial vehicle tires.

In the past year, the original business volume of passenger cars and light truck tires for automakers was also “full growth”. In Europe, one-third of passenger cars produced by automakers are equipped with horse tires; in the United States, one-sixth passenger cars that come down from the automaker's assembly line are also branded . In China and Russia, the completion of the new plant has also opened up a good start for the market. In view of the current market environment, the company's brand tire company attaches importance to innovation, in addition to traditional products, but also concerned about the special tires for electric vehicles. Zetz emphasized: "Electric vehicles are one of the most important global development trends in the automotive industry. From this perspective, our active participation in the development of electric vehicles is to promote the formation and development of global industry trends." Applied to Renault Megane The future of Renault Twizy's new Conti.eContact tires is very promising and will continue to introduce more products. In the field of commercial vehicle tires, the company expanded its low rolling resistance products in 2011, including distribution and van tires. The company also strives to promote modular products and service solutions, such as: ContiLifeCycle - which ensures commercial use throughout the entire service life, ie: helping the fleet to effectively control total costs to a minimum.

Continental has launched many new products and was exhibited at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. At the Detroit Auto Show, the company plans to jointly establish a joint venture with SK Innovation Group of Korea to produce electric vehicle systems such as lithium batteries. Each year, Continental invests approximately 170 million euros in the R&D and industrialization of electric vehicle systems – which is also a strong evidence of the company’s active involvement in the field of electric vehicles. In the coming years, sales of such products will continue to grow. Although the production of cars in major European markets is expected to shrink, Nikola Zetzer emphasized: In 2012, the total growth of Continental's tire business will exceed 5%.