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International Test Magazines Confirm Conflicting Goals in Car Tire Development

HANOVER - November 20, 2008: When developing car winter tires for its premium brands, market leader Continental AG has focused for many years on continually improving all properties relevant to safety. Here, the most important consideration is how well brakes perform in some of the most common and critical road conditions for motorists in Western and Central Europe – wet road surfaces. An evaluation of the latest winter tire test results reported by leading international trade magazines confirms the outstanding wet-braking properties of tires developed in Hanover, which in most cases received by far the best scores in this category. Furthermore, the exceptional tire balance was commended and on the whole, received very good overall marks. In contrast, several competitor products and cheap Asian imports designed primarily for low rolling resistance were marked down for poor performance on wet surfaces.

“Obviously we are very happy with the positive test results for the ContiCrossContact Winter and the whole ContiWinterContact range. In the context of this achievement, we would like to specifically point out once again the conflicting general goals in car tire development between wet-grip and rolling resistance, which is constantly highlighted by the European Tire & Rubber Manufacturers' Association (ETRMA)”, states the vice chairman of the Executive Board at Continental AG, Dr. Alan Hippe, who manages the Rubber Group and is also head of the Passenger & Light Truck Tires Division.

“In the October 2008 issue of ADAC motorwelt, the winter tire test report shows that not only cheap Asian imports but products from European manufacturers are affected by this. The extremely low prices charged for products imported from Asia are therefore a false economy as the drawbacks in terms of safety are striking.”

Continental takes the view that the high weighting given by the test magazines to performance in wet conditions in Western and Central Europe appropriately reflects the importance of this criterion to motorists. What is astonishing is that the expert consensus on conflicting goals in car tire development – namely that overemphasis on rolling resistance leads inevitably to reduced wet braking performance – is essentially disputed by some market operators. “It is ultimately up to consumers to decide whether they want tires with maximum safety in terms of short braking distances or tires with extremely low rolling resistance and minimal fuel savings”, summarises Hippe.

In Scandinavian countries and Russia, performance in wet conditions is only weighted at 15% whilst performance in snowy and icy conditions is traditionally given a lot more importance owing to the significantly colder weather. Indeed some of the leading test magazines give it an overall rating as high as 60%. “For this reason, we offer SoftCompound winter tires in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, with and without spikes, which perform well under snowy and icy conditions, but in contrast to Central European winter tires, do not have exceptional properties in terms of handling wet roads”, states Dr. Burkhard Wies, head of tire development for the international spare parts business.

“Our philosophy of focusing closely on all safety features whilst achieving the best possible balance with regard to the other criteria enables us to offer the right products in every region. Our products ContiVikingContact 5, CrossContact Viking and Conti 4x4 IceContact provide our customers in Scandinavian countries and Russia with the perfect range for polar conditions. They have all been given the highest scores by the test publications Test World, Tekniikan Maailma and Za Rulem in the latest winter tire tests.

With targeted annual sales of €25 billion for 2008, the Continental Corporation is one of the top automotive suppliers worldwide. As a supplier of tires, brake systems, systems and components for the powertrain and chassis, instrumentation, infotainment solutions, vehicle electronics and technical elastomers, the corporation contributes towards enhanced driving safety and protection of the global climate. Continental is also a competent partner in networked automobile communication. Today, the corporation employs approximately 146,500 at nearly 200 locations in 36 countries. For further details, please go to www.conti-online.com.