Continental wins Tyre Manufacturer of the Year award, lauded for eco-friendly production

Continental has been awarded ‘Tire Manufacturer of the Year’ at this year’s Tire Technology International Awards for Innovation and Excellence.

The premium tyre manufacturer received a further honour for its tyre plant in Lousado, Portugal, which can produce tyres CO₂-neutrally since last year. This makes Continental the only tyre manufacturer to win two of the prestigious awards, outperforming the competition as ‘Tyre Manufacturer of the Year’ as well as in the category ‘Environmental Achievement of the Year – Manufacturing’. The awards, which were part of the Tire Technology Expo on March 4 at the exhibition centre in Hanover, are regarded as some of the top honours in the industry. 

Edwin Goudswaard, Head of Research and Development at Continental Tires, accepts the award for 'Tire Manufacturer of the Year 2024'.

"We are especially proud to be the only manufacturer to be honoured twice at the Tire Technology Awards in an extremely competitive field," said Edwin Goudswaard, Head of Research and Development at Continental Tires. "Both awards highlight our strong commitment to sustainable tire development and manufacturing. In such a highly competitive market, this success demonstrates our innovative prowess and our ability to actively shape the future of the industry."

Continental bags ‘Tire Manufacturer of the Year’ title for the fourth time
Competition in both categories was fierce. As ‘Tire Manufacturer of the Year’, Continental outperformed competitors from the USA, Italy and France. This marks the fourth time Continental has received this title – most recently in 2022. 

Sustainability efforts are becoming an increasingly important focus for the industry, and therefore for the awards. By naming Continental ‘Tire Manufacturer of the Year’ for 2024, the jury of 27 independent industry experts acknowledged Continental’s ongoing achievements on the road to greater sustainability.

The projects considered in their deliberations included increasing the share of sustainable materials through recycled PET bottles at further Continental plants, expanding the plant in Rayong, Thailand, according to the highest energy-efficiency standards, obtaining the international sustainability certification ISCC-PLUS for its plants in Lousado, Portugal, Puchóv, Slovakia, and Hefei, China, as well as upgrading the tyre plant in Hefei with automation technology in line with state-of-the-art sustainability standards.

Pushing the sustainability envelope
Continental states that it has also repeatedly impressed the jury in award categories that specifically recognize environmentally friendly development and production measures. In 2024, for example, the company took top spot in the category ‘Environmental Achievement of the Year – Tire Design’ with its sustainable production of the UltraContact NXT tyre. 

This year, Continental has won the prize in the ‘Manufacturing’ category for the sustainability measures at its tyre plant in Lousado, Portugal. Since 2024, the plant has been testing a CO₂-neutral production process that advances the company's ambition to achieve carbon neutrality. Thanks to a fully electric steam boiler, Continental generates the steam using both in-house produced solar power and renewable energy from the grid. Steam is needed to heat the rubber compound for the tires during the so-called vulcanization.

During this process, raw rubber is turned into a flexible, elastic form. In the tire industry, a large proportion of the consumed energy is used for generating steam. Previously, the Lousado tire plant relied exclusively on natural gas for steam generation. With an annual production capacity of 18 million tires, the plant in Lousado is considered a mega plant. Continental is aiming to switch all of its tire plants to fully carbon-neutral production processes by 2040 at the latest.

The Tire Technology International Awards for Innovation and Excellence have been instituted since 2008 as part of the Tire Technology Expo in Hanover each year. The prizes span 13 categories honouring the latest innovations in tyre technology and major advances on the road to a more sustainable tyre industry.

ALSO READ: Recycled plastic bottles increase share of sustainable materials in Continental car tyres

Continental's high-on-sustainability UltraContact NCT tyre wins German Innovation Award 2024