On October 8,
2021, Continental will celebrate its 150th anniversary. Since its foundation in
Hanover, Germany in 1871, Continental has developed pioneering technologies and
services for mobility.
From a small
factory in Hanover the company has developed into one of the global players in
the automotive industry, which is now operating in 58 countries and markets.
Continental is the oldest independent and also one of the largest tyre
manufacturers in the world. Over the past 150 years, the company has set
standards in the tire industry with its pioneering spirit and innovative
strength.
Continental’s
engineers with their ground-breaking inventions, ensured that tyres became
safer, more efficient, and sustainable. Milestones in Continental’s tire
development include the first treaded tyre, the first tyre with a detachable
rim, the patent for the world’s first tubeless tyre and, with its “all-terrain”
model, the first dedicated winter tyre.
The first
pneumatic tractor tyre came from Continental. Later came the first rolling
resistance-optimized tyre and the first production tyre to feature a tread made
of dandelion rubber. Continental is also one of the pioneers in the field of
digitalization. As early as 1999 the tyre manufacturer demonstrated that the
data required for advanced driver assistance systems can be determined even
more accurately and quickly if the tyre is used as a data source. This was the
birth of the intelligent tire. Meanwhile Continental is connecting its tyres
and their sensors to the cloud and offering its customers completely new, smart
and digital tyre solutions and services.
According to
Christian Kötz, Head of the Tires business area and member of the executive
board, Continental, tyres are their passion. Their technological excellence has
ensured safety, reliability, and sustainability for 150 years. He added that
many of today’s technology standards in tyres come from Continental and the
company repeatedly push the boundaries of what is possible. Their goal is to
produce the entire product portfolio exclusively from sustainable materials in
a climate-neutral way by 2050 at the latest.
On October 8th,
1871, the “Continental-Caoutchouc- & Gutta-Percha-Compagnie” was
incorporated. The product range initially included a variety of rubber
products, such as toy balls, rubber mats, roller coverings, rubberized fabrics
or balloons and solid tyres for carriages and bicycles. When the bicycle began
its worldwide career in 1892 with freewheel and coaster brake, Continental was
the first German company to produce pneumatic bicycle tyres and hence
“pneumatics” soon became a household word.
Today,
Continental is using the direct connection of its tires and sensors to the
cloud to offer completely new business models. Fed by a large number of data
points, Continental's fleet customers can check the condition of their tyres at
any time using algorithms developed in-house.
In 2020,
Continental set new standards with the presentation of its successful pilot
project for significantly accurate tread depth monitoring using algorithms and
vehicle telemetry data. In its new strategy program presented in 2020,
Continental describes its path into the new decade. The focus of the Vision
2030 strategy program is the consistently customer-centric orientation of the
organization and all business activities.
In addition, the
tyre sector aims to continue to grow profitably and differentiate itself from
its competitors in a rapidly changing market environment in the areas of
sustainability and digital solutions. Through continuous investment in research
and development, Continental makes a major contribution to
safe, cost-effective and ecologically efficient mobility. The portfolio of the
Tyres business unit includes services for the tyre trade and fleet applications
as well as digital tire management systems.
Source:
Continental Press Release
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