Continental Awards 'Beat the Best' Fuel Savings Champion

FORT MILL, S.C., June 4 -- Continental Tire North America, Inc. ("Continental) has concluded its first fuel savings contest for NAFTA countries and named the Fuel Savings Champion of the inaugural "Beat the Best" competition.

Lillibridge Transportation, a dry goods long and regional haul fleet from Urbana, Iowa, earned the Fuel Savings Champion award by achieving a 7.01 miles per gallon average, or only 14.28 gallons of fuel per 100 miles, on its participating truck with Continental tires. They were also the Midwest regional winner of the contest.

As the Fuel Savings Champion, Lillibridge Transportation receives a trip for four staff members to attend the ContiSpeed event, a racing experience to be held near Charlotte, N.C. with opportunities to participate in autocross, karting and stock car driving at the Lowe's(R) Motor Speedway.

The other regional winners of the "Beat the Best" competition were: Houff Transfer, Inc. of Weyers Cave, VA (north region); Southern Cal Transport of Birmingham, Ala. (south region); BJ Trucking of Phoenix, Ariz. (west region); Scotlynn Commodities of Vittorio, Ontario (Canada) and Transportes Unidas Mexicanos (Mexico). These regional winners achieved fuel efficiency levels of up to 6.74 MPG during the competition.

Robert Tucker, fleet maintenance manager at Lillibridge, explained that timing was the main factor in deciding to participate in "Beat the Best." Over the past year the company had tried a few sets of Continental steer tires and were still evaluating the cost per mile, he said. Then this spring, he was in the process of purchasing two identical new trucks for the fleet of 28 and needed new tires. When their Continental salesperson suggested joining the fuel savings competition, it just seemed to work out.

"This was the first set of Continental drive tires that we had purchased as a company, although some of our owner-operators have been using them. Now, versus the tires we have used in the past, I would recommend Continental," Tucker said.

"We were able to run the Continentals from coast to coast in rain, snow and ice and we were impressed by how they were able to perform. I also had the drivers collect a lot of data that I requested including idle time, weight and cruise usage, so we were able to pattern our drivers' fuel mileage to their location, weather and load. The result was that with the Continental tires, our driver was able to increase his mileage but his driving style never changed."

Owner Lance Lillibridge has been in business since 1997, and said that his company was most interested in honest answers and proven technology that could help them increase their fuel efficiency. In fact, they didn't tell the drivers about the contest until it was nearly over, he said, but instead told them they were running a test for the company. They were surprised to still find an average increase of 0.4 miles per gallon using Continental tires.

"A lot of products to add fuel efficiency are out there on the market, and many times you try something new and it fails. In this case, Continental didn't fail. It was a fact and we've got our own data to prove it," Lillibridge said.

Lillibridge Transportation plans to keep using Continental tires and plans to add more when their long-haul trucks are due for drive tires. They also plan to start changing the tires on their regional trucks, Tucker said. Lillibridge said he was also impressed by the fact that the Continental tires were getting between 1,000 and 2,000 more miles per 1/32 inch of tread depth at a 14,000 mile check than they had been experiencing with other tires.

"We had a system that we didn't think was broke, but when it was all said and done, and we're getting nearly a half mile per gallon more and not wearing the tires out, I can assure you that we'll be buying more Continental tires," Lillibridge said.

For the winning fleets in the U.S. and Canada, using Continental tires created an overall average fuel consumption of 6.39 miles per gallon. When compared to the average performance of their existing tire brands reported during the contest, the winners gained an average of 0.42 miles per gallon by using Continental tires. At their current average yearly mileage and fuel consumption rates, the winning fleets from the U.S. and Canada could each save an average of 2,236 gallons of fuel per year by using Continental tires on one truck(i).

The "Beat the Best" competition began in April, 2009 with a free fuel savings training course for participating drivers. Each fleet tracked fuel consumption and mileage on a weekly basis for two trucks; one equipped with new Continental HSL2(TM) (Heavy Steer Long-Haul) and HDL Eco Plus(TM) (Heavy Drive Long-Haul) premium truck tires, and one identical model truck with new tires of any other national brand. The fleets had to have comparable commercial applications and truck models to be eligible.

During the 10-week contest, each fleet drove at least 10,000 miles with each truck and provided their fuel consumption and mileage on a weekly basis in order to continue competing. The winners were selected based upon the lowest gallons of fuel per 100 mile average on the truck equipped with Continental tires.

"Because fuel consumption has such a deep impact on overall driving costs, it's important to explore every technology and fuel saving technique on the market today. The 'Beat the Best' competition showed truck fleets how easy it is to improve fuel efficiency just by changing the tires on their vehicles," said Clif Armstrong, Continental's director of commercial vehicle tire marketing - the Americas.

Continental's Long Haul tires optimize the combination of tire design and compounds, which reduces rolling resistance and uses less energy to move the tires, Armstrong said. Both the HSL2(TM) and HDL Eco Plus(TM) premium truck tires are EPA SmartWay(SM) verified technologies, recognizing their reduced rolling resistance. Continental also offers an EPA SmartWay(SM) verified trailer position tire, the HTL Eco Plus(TM).

Continental plans to hold additional "Beat the Best" fuel savings contests in 2009 and 2010, including an upcoming competition featuring its new line of retread tire products, ContiTreads(R).