Conti extends e-mobility strategy to secondary tire brands

Hanover, Germany – Continental Tires has extended its strategy of making all tires compatible for electric vehicles (EVs) to include its secondary brands in Europe.

All new passenger car and 4x4 secondary-brand tires launched in Europe will meet EV requirements, while also being suitable for conventionally powered vehicles.

The tire brands involved include Barum, General Tire, Mabor, Matador, Semperit, Uniroyal and Viking, Continental announced 17 April.

All the tires will also carry the ‘EV-compatible’ logo on their sidewalls, according to the German company's statement.

Elaborating on tire requirements of EVs, Continental said for high performance and long-range vehicles, the focus is on handling and mileage-oriented tires.

In smaller cars, low rolling-resistance is a particularly important requirement to optimise fuel- and power-consumption.

“In principle, vehicles of all powertrain types benefit from technological advances in tire development,” said the tire maker.

With the advent of electro-mobility, however, Continental said its development focus had changed in certain areas.

“We have used the past few years intensively to optimise our entire tire portfolio for all drive systems," says Maria Hanczuch, head of programme management private mobility EMEA at Continental.

The strategy also offers potential supply-chain advantages, as Continental said it is not unnecessarily increasing the complexity of its product portfolio.

“This simplifies warehousing, ordering and logistics processes and saves valuable resources from the production to the mounting of a tire,” it concluded.