Continental Tyres foresees growth potential in APAC region

Continental, one of the world`s leading tyre manufacturers and automotive suppliers, is growing its footprint in the Asia Pacific region. In 2014, the company began the distribution of passenger car tyres in Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Myanmar. In September, it entered the Sri Lankan market in association with a local partner, Douglas & Sons, which is one of Sri Lanka’s largest tyre distributors. Two weeks later, another brand launch was held in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam, along with Bahn Auto, a leading Vietnam business house. And, in November, it expanded its presence in India.

“We do see great potential in the APAC region for us. Based on our leading German tyre technology, the new tire lynes have been designed especially for the Asia Pacific region and are further customized for delivering the required performance to APAC car drivers,” said Antonio Lopes Seabra, executive vice-president and head of the Business Unit Replacement Asia Pacific for PLT tyres at Continental.

In November 2014, Continental Tyres launched the ContiMaxContact MC5 and ContiComfortContact CC5 premium passenger car tyre lines in the Indian market. The company has set up a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for PLT tyres at its existing tyre plant at Modipuram with an initial capacity of 800,000 tyres per annum with further expansion potential.

“Manufactured in our Indian plant and distributed through our Indian market organisation, these new tyre lines will help Continental become a partner of choice for both the tyre replacement and Original Equipment business,” Antonio Lopes Seabra had said then.

Continental says its products for the APAC markets are based on comprehensive market research from which the requirements car drivers in the APAC region have been derived. One finding is that consumers have to handle all kinds of road conditions all the time and another is that Asian drivers require comfort a lot.

Therefore the ContiMaxContact MC5 and ContiComfortContact CC5 have been developed especially with a focus on these performance criteria and both are equipped with specific tyre technology solutions, without compromising on either braking performance or comfort. The ContiComfortContact CC5, for example, has an innovative noise breaker from silent tread pattern groove technology while the ContiMaxContact MC5 delivers excellent high speed handling.