Mitas launches new brand, to remove Continental on OEMs

Prague – Czech off-road tire manufacturer Mitas has announced that it is launching “Mitas Premium”, a new product line of agricultural radial tires for powerful machines.

The launch is part of a strategy to focus the company’s portfolio onto the Mitas brand, and move away from the production of Continental brand tires.

Mitas is to continue producing Continental-branded agriculture tires license agreement with the German tire major until 2019, when the agreement expires.

From January 2015, all tractors and harvesters produced by major OEMs that were previously equipped with Continental tires will be fitted with Mitas Premium tires, said Jaroslav ?echura, Mitas' CEO.

“Mitas Premium tires bear the same premium quality and technical characteristics as Continental tires,” claimed ?echura. “Our OEM partners recognise this, and they accepted delivery and fitment of Mitas Premium.”

Mitas said it had negotiated deliveries of Mitas Premium tires to major agriculture machinery manufacturers such as AGCO, ARGO, CLAAS, CNHi, John Deere and SAME DEUTZ-FAHR throughout 2014.

At CLAAS, newly manufactured harvesters and tractors are already being equipped with tires from the Mitas Premium product line since October. Other OEMs will start fitting Mitas Premium tires on machinery from now through to in January 2015.

Mitas announced in a press release on 13 Nov that it was “strongly investing” in its own R&D and had introduced several new products that were solely designed and manufactured under the Mitas brand.

“We have been manufacturing Continental tires since 2004, and we are confident that Mitas Premium has the same premium quality,” ?echura said. “We will be producing Continental-branded agriculture tires until 2019, when the license agreement expires but in long term main focus is on Mitas brand. Our aim is to launch Mitas Premium also for replacement market in the near future.”