Conti launches sporty style UHP tyre

ERJ staff report (DS)

Seville, Spain -- Continental has broken the mould of its UHP tyre strategy, by introducing a tyre aimed specifically at sporty drivers, rather than one tyre for all high performance cars.

Historically, the company has offered one tyre range - the ContiSportContact - for all fitments in the high performance sector.

Now, however, the company has recognised that drivers of a Porsche or Mercedes AMG or Brabus probably want a different tyre from drivers of a Lexus or Mercedes S class.

Where the csc was a compromise between comfort and noise on the one hand and handling on the other, the new 5P is an uncompromising performance tyre.

Nikolai Setzer, head of the group's car tyre business, said the old tyre was a good tyre but it was not spectacular, because of this need to compromise across the range. Now, for drivers of sporty high-performance cars, “we do not compromise any more.”

He recognised that other tyre makers have catered to this segment in the past, but said, “It is never too late to launch a new product.”

He said some people had suggested Conti was unable to make tyres offering excellent handling under sporty driving conditions, and the 5P is Continental's response.

With this tyre, “We show of course we can make performance tyres,” Setzer added.

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Press release from Conti