Continental notches up 140 years

German tyre manufacturer has been going from strength to strength since 1871

The company we know today as Continental Tyres opened its doors in 1871. Operating out of premises located in the German city of Hanover, Continental-Caoutchouc & Gutta-Percha Compagnie, as it was named, was established by a consortium of bankers and industrialists — 5 years before Nikolaus Otto invented the four-stroke petrol engine and fully 16 years before John Dunlop invented the pneumatic tyre.

"Our customers and business partners profit from our years-long experience, our innovative prowess, our increasingly international orientation and our broadly based product portfolio in different sectors of business," says Dr. Elmar Degenhart, chairman of the Executive Board of Continental AG.

"We are at your side as a competent and reliable partner. At the same time we are a crucial force in shaping today's mega-trends in the automotive industry - safety, information, the environment and affordable vehicles."

Initially, the company produced hot water bottles, dolls, rubberised fabrics and solid tyres for carriages and bicycles. Since then, its staff has grown from 200 employees to 155,000, based in 193 different locations around the world.

The company enjoyed commercial success almost immediately, selling products to the value of 3.3 millon marks in the 1880s. After the development of the pneumatic tyre, Continental introduced tread patterns for tyres — an idea swiftly adopted by tyre manufacturers the world over. Four years later the company launched removable rim technology and in 1943 it 'rolled out' tubeless tyres.

As the world economy flatlined in the late 1920s, Continental merged with other companies and the name changed to Continental Gummi-Werke AG.

From the 1980s Continental went on a massive expansion program, acquiring US company General Tire and the European assets of Uniroyal. The company has also bought other OE suppliers in the meantime, although not necessarily tyre manufacturers.

"In acquiring the European tyre operations of the American company Uniroyal Inc., taking over the North American tyre manufacturer General Tire, and purchasing majority holdings in the Portugese company Mabor and the Czech tyremaker Barum, Continental carried its international activities even beyond Europe's borders," Degenhart explains.

Expansion continued into the following decade, with the staff numbers now up around 51,000 — of which roughly half were employed in Germany. As the world faced the threat of the 'Y2K bug', the Continental Corporation — as it was now known — purchased Teves from ITT Industries, and suddenly became a player in brake and chassis operations. Three years later the company acquired Temic from Daimler, followed by Motorola.

"With the biggest acquisition to date in the company's history - the takeover of Siemens VDO Automotive AG - Continental advanced to the top league of automotive suppliers globally. In this way, we have simultaneously strengthened our market positions in Europe, North America and Asia," Degenhart says.

This year, the company, with its 155,000-strong workforce — two thirds of whom work outside Germany — Continental is expected to register 1100 new patents. In 2010 the company reported worldwide sales worth 26 billion euros and today, in addition to tyres, the company markets such diverse automotive products as stability control systems and lithium-ion batteries for hybrid-drive vehicles.

Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...