Continental gains access to Indian truck tyre market

The Commercial Vehicle Tires Division of international automotive supplier Continental AG has revived the collaboration with Modi that began in 1974 with a co-operation agreement. The company has thus secured access to the Indian market where around 12 million commercial vehicle tyres are required and growth rates of around 7 per cent have been forecast. Modi will produce over one million bias tyres for trucks under the Continental brand. Production already began at the start of June 2009.

The agreements include a technical co-operation agreement and a licence agreement for Continental brand bias tyres. The Continental bias tyres will be distributed via the revived Modi sales network. Bias tyre technology still accounts for over 90 per cent of the Indian market. Modern radial technology will remain of secondary importance for the replacement market for a while. “For us, this new agreement represents an extremely useful revival of our activities in India, a market which we know will grow significantly over the coming years,” explains Continental project manager Christian Sass.

The collaboration between Continental and Modi dates back to 1974 when an extensive technical co-operation was agreed on for setting up of a new Modi tyre plant at Modipuram, Meerut. From planning to execution and from technology transfer to active support, Continental has supplied expertise to Modi for many years. The tyres which were marketed under the name Modi-Continental quickly gained the position of a benchmark on the Indian market. The brand awareness of Continental increased from year to year. However, Modi temporarily stopped production of bias tyres in 2001 and only started to reactivate the tyre plant two years ago.

New contacts were formed between Continental and Modi and the previous arrangements were revived under the subsequent agreements. Further collaboration possibilities are currently being looked into.

With sales exceeding Euro 24 billion in 2008, Continental Corporation is one of the top automotive suppliers worldwide. As a supplier of brake systems, powertrain and chassis systems and components, instrumentation, infotainment solutions, vehicle electronics, tyres, and technical elastomers, Continental contributes to enhanced driving safety and global climate protection. It is also a competent partner in networked automobile communication, with a workforce of 130,000 at nearly 190 locations in 35 countries.

As one of the largest manufacturers of premium tyres for commercial vehicles, Continental carries a broad range of high-performance products finely tailored to specific application areas for heavy-duty and light trucks, buses and off-road vehicles. Continental AG produces truck and bus tyres under the Continental, Uniroyal, Semperit and Barum brand names.

The ContiBreakdownService, in existence since 1978, is a quick-response network of authorized dealerships providing additional security in the case of a flat tyre.