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Contis SmoothContact 1 in the wet forms a three-millimeter deep tread profile with lateral drainage channels to guarantee safety even on wet roads. (Photo: Continental AG)

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“Our trials with the hydrophobic rubber compound alone meant investing a lot of man-hours and hundreds of material tests,” explains Continental industrial chemist Dr. Ivan Eydea. “We needed to focus not only on developing a rubber-based water-sensitive material, but also on finding the ideal proportion of this flexible material to add to the compound.” Road tests by Continental have shown that the chemists did a fine job. Braking distances with the new tire are significantly shorter than with conventional models, lap times on the handling test track have broken all records, road-tire noise is minimal, and the new product delivers far more mileage than any conventional tire with a complicated tread pattern. “Compliance with the legal requirement for a tread depth of at least 1.6 millimeters is no problem, either,” says Eydea.  “After all, the law does not state whether the tread depth must be measured on dry or wet roads. And in the wet, these tires form a three-millimeter deep tread profile with lateral drainage channels. Tests carried out at our AIBA (Automated Indoor Braking Analyzer) facility, the only one of its kind in the world, revealed braking distances very similar to those of conventional tires.” And as Eydea went on to confirm, the outcome of aquaplaning tests was “similarly unspectacular”.

From today, the new SmoothContact 1 is available from tire dealers in 14 different sizes from 16 to 22 inches in diameter. This means there are sizes are available for everything from a tuned VW Golf to super sports cars from Porsche.

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In the Motor Vehicle Parts category, Goodyear was ranked No. 3 in five of the nine key attributes measured, and No. 4 in three others.

Goodyear led its key global tire competitors by a wide margin in the overall rankings as well as in all nine attributes.

Started in 1983, the Fortune Most Admired list is considered “the definitive report card on corporate reputations.” It uses a rigorous assessment by nearly 4,000 executives, board directors and securities analysts to determine a company’s overall reputation by evaluating innovation, people management, use of assets, social responsibility, management quality, financial soundness, long-term investment, product/service quality and global competitiveness.

The full list, with all categories, and related stories appear in the March issue of Fortune, which is available on newsstands and online at www.fortune.com/WMAC/.

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Continental Sales and EBIT 2015 (Graphic: Continental AG)

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“Backed by a strong financial position, we are tackling the major challenges ahead with Continental’s typical agility. These challenges particularly include volatile markets, fluctuations in raw material prices and currency exchange rates. In fiscal 2016, we expect to generate a similarly high level of organic profitable growth of around 5 percent, as in the past year. We want to take advantage of the opportunities arising from new, digital mobility concepts in a systematic and focused manner this year. In doing so, we will concentrate on developing our successful business model intelligently and tapping new business areas and customers in an innovative way,” said Degenhart. “The start we have made to this year in a difficult environment confirms our expectations for 2016,” he added.

The Continental Executive Board chairman was pleased at the success achieved in fiscal 2015: “In a challenging environment, we once again demonstrated our profitability and our strong capacity for growth. Overall, we achieved an impressive result with profit after taxes of €2.7 billion. This corresponds to €13.64 per share, which is 15 percent more than the year before. The Executive Board is therefore proposing another increase in the dividend to €3.75 per share. This corresponds to a total payout of €750 million and a dividend payout ratio of 27.5 percent.”

Continental CFO Wolfgang Schäfer stated that the technology company had comfortably achieved and in some cases significantly exceeded its annual targets in 2015: Sales climbed by more than €4.7 billion or around 14 percent to €39.2 billion. EBIT rose by 23.0 percent year-on-year to €4.1 billion in fiscal 2015. The EBIT margin came to 10.5 percent after 9.7 percent in 2014. Adjusted EBIT, particularly adjusted for changes in the scope of consolidation, acquisition-related amortization and special effects, increased by 15.3 percent year-on-year to €4.5 billion in 2015. This corresponds to 11.8 percent of adjusted sales after 11.2 percent in 2014.

For the current fiscal year, Continental anticipates a growth rate similar to that achieved in 2015: “We expect organic growth of 5 percent to approximately €41 billion, which means we would again grow faster than the market with our innovative electronics, sensor and software solutions and our industrial products and tires. We also expect to comfortably achieve an adjusted EBIT margin of over 10.5 percent again,” Schäfer announced. “The 5 percent increase in organic sales is comparable with the rise of around 4 percent achieved in 2015. These figures do not take into account foreign exchange rate effects and sales contributions from acquisitions. These two effects increased sales by an additional 10 percentage points in 2015. The rise in sales thus amounted to 14 percent in total,” explained Schäfer.

He added that Continental was anticipating only a moderate rise in global vehicle production of 1.5 percent to just under 90 million units. The weak development of the Russian and Brazilian markets was expected to be more than offset again by growth in the vehicle markets in Europe and China.

Compared to the previous year, free cash flow before acquisitions posted a significant increase of more than €500 million to €2.7 billion. “Despite cash outflows for acquisitions totaling more than €1.2 billion, primarily for Veyance Technologies and Elektrobit Automotive, free cash flow after acquisitions amounted to €1.4 billion in 2015,” emphasized Schäfer.

Compared to the end of 2014, net indebtedness was up slightly more than €700 million to €3.5 billion. The gearing ratio increased only slightly year-on-year to 26.8 percent (previous year: 25.6 percent). This was due primarily to the acquisitions of Veyance Technologies and Elektrobit Automotive.

As at the end of 2015, Continental had liquidity reserves totaling €5.2 billion, consisting of cash and cash equivalents of €1.6 billion and committed, unutilized credit lines totaling €3.6 billion. This represented a decline in liquidity of €2.0 billion in comparison to the end of 2014. “This was chiefly due to the acquisitions of Veyance Technologies and Elektrobit Automotive, the early redemption of the U.S. dollar bond in mid-September, and the reduction of the syndicated loan from €1.5 billion to €350 million,” explained Schäfer. “This amount is more than sufficient for a company of Continental’s size and structure,” Schäfer added.

Compared to the previous year, interest expense decreased by €19 million to €341 million. Net interest expense improved by €20 million year-on-year to €246 million in 2015.

Income tax expense for fiscal 2015 amounted to €1.1 billion. The tax rate was 28.2 percent. In fiscal 2016, the tax rate is expected to be around 30 percent.

Continental invested €2.2 billion in property, plant and equipment, and software in 2015. The capital expenditure ratio thus amounted to 5.6 percent after 5.9 percent in the previous year. Research and development expenses rose by 14.6 percent year-on-year to more than €2.4 billion, corresponding to 6.2 percent of sales, as in the previous year.

The positive business performance also resulted in a growing number of employees: At the end of 2015, the technology company had approximately 208,000 employees, roughly 19,000 more than the year before. This increase was also due in particular to the acquisitions of Elektrobit Automotive and Veyance Technologies, as well as a rise in production.

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The concepts: the spherical-shaped Eagle-360 – a future-oriented tire – was designed with key features of maneuverability, connectivity and biomimicry for autonomous mobility, while the IntelliGrip, featuring advanced sensor and treadwear technology, is a solution for the earlier adoption of self-driving vehicles.

Both tires are designed with safety in mind, which according to recent studies, is a key concern among consumers around autonomous vehicles. They reflect Goodyear’s focus on anticipating the rapidly evolving needs of its customers.

“By steadily reducing the driver interaction and intervention in self-driving vehicles, tires will play an even more important role as the primary link to the road,” said Joseph Zekoski, Goodyear’s senior vice president and chief technical officer. “Goodyear’s concept tires play a dual role in that future both as creative platforms to push the boundaries of conventional thinking and testbeds for next-generation technologies.”

Additional details on the two concept tires:

Goodyear Eagle-360

The Goodyear Eagle-360 is a spherical-shaped design concept tire that would provide self-driving cars ultimate maneuverability, connectivity and biomimicry to increase safety.

• Maneuverability: The multi-orientation of the spherical-shaped tire allows the car to move in all directions, contributing to safety for passengers, as well as coping with space limitations such as tight parking lots or city streets.
• Connectivity: Embedded sensors further increase safety by communicating road and weather conditions to the vehicle control system and other nearby cars, while tread and tire pressure monitoring technology regulate even wear of the 360-degree tire to extend mileage.
• Connected via magnetic levitation: The tires would rely on a magnetic levitation system to suspend the car resulting in a smooth, quiet ride for the passenger.
• Biomimicry: Inspired by nature, the 3D printed tread mimics the pattern of brain coral and behaves like a natural sponge – designed to stiffen in dry conditions and soften when wet to deliver excellent driving performance and aquaplaning resistance.

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Goodyear Eagle 360 – is that still a tire? Or was that the preparation for april fool’s day? Goodyear means it serious… (Image: Goodyear)

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Goodyear IntelliGrip

The Goodyear IntelliGrip concept tire is designed to communicate with autonomous vehicle control systems, sensing road surface and weather conditions for improved driving safety and performance.

• Senses road conditions: Thanks to its advanced sensor technology and specially designed tread, the concept tire can sense many road conditions, including both surface and weather conditions.
• Active-wear technology: The IntelliGrip also uses advanced active wear technology to assess the condition of the tire and the vehicle.
• Custom algorithms: Goodyear-developed algorithms account for variables such as inflation pressure and tire temperature.
• Adapting to road conditions: When the tire senses a rainy or slippery road surface, the autonomous vehicle will adapt its speed. Additionally, the tire can shorten the stopping distance, provide a better cornering response, optimize stability and even support collision prevention systems.
• Technology adaption: Goodyear is working with a number of vehicle manufacturers to further adapt this technology to their needs, enhancing connectivity with features such as Electronic Stability Control Systems, Brake Control Systems and Suspension Control Systems.

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Goodyear IntelliGrip, featuring advanced sensor and treadwear technology, is a solution for the earlier adoption of self-driving vehicles. (Image: Goodyear)

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Although these tires are future concepts, Zekoski says they represent an essential aspect of Goodyear’s innovation strategy and its vision for smart and safe mobility.

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Two sizes (height: 19cm or 43cm) will ultimately be produced and the new mascot will be sold in service stations and other outlets complete with a self-adhesive plinth.

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Newly shaped BIB is avaiable for trucks from now on. (Image: Michelin)

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Created by the French illustrator O’Galop in 1898, the Michelin Man has lost none of his original bonhomie over the years. On the contrary, he is probably more lovable than ever today and continues to stand out as reassuring emblem of the French tyre brand and its stance on mobility.

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Currently available in four radial sizes, including those equipping the ‘flagship’ bike in this category, the BMW R 1200 GS, the range of available sizes for this tire will be completed by three additional sizes during the year, thus covering most of the trail bikes available on the market.

3 front sizes

• 110/80 R 19 (available within the 1^st four months of 2016)
• 120/70 R 19 (available within the 1^st four months of 2016)
• 90/90 – 21

4 rear sizes

• 150/70 R 17 (available within the 1^st four months of 2016)
• 170/60 R 17 (available within the 1^st four months of 2016)
• 130/80 – 17
• 140/80 – 17

The new MICHELIN Anakee Wild is aimed at bikers who seek adventure, either solo or with a passenger, who set out on treks, whether alone or in groups, for a weekend or longer, those for whom biking means expeditions, experiencing and discovering. It is aimed at riders who want to break away from paved roads and fully exploit the potential of bikes designed both for roads as well as the most uneven, sandy, stony and muddy tracks. The new MICHELIN Anakee Wild tire was thus designed to adapt to all terrain types and situations, as well as the most varied climates. In short it is a ‘multi-purpose’ tire that demonstrates its performance according to the conditions it is subjected to.

The mission of the development engineers was to combine three performance characteristics together. The new MICHELIN Anakee Wild tire thus ensures:

– Excellent mileage and resistance to overheating and wear. This is due to the new tread composition and optimised tread depth.

– On-road stability and comfort. This is due to the radial technology, available for the first time in the world on four different sizes of knobbly tires.

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Nikolai Setzer, Continenal Executive Board Member and Head of Tire Division (Photo: Continental AG)

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“The project is part of our global growth strategy. In a first step the new plant is especially addressing our commitment to grow our commercial vehicle tire business in North America,” said Nikolai Setzer, Continental’s Executive Board Member for the Tire business. “The announcement of a new tire plant in the U.S. is the second in just five years for Continental. We look forward to a strong business relationship for years to come.” A date for the start of construction has not yet been announced, but the company expects to break ground in the next several months in cadence with market demands. The production of commercial vehicle tires is planned to start by end of 2019.

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Dr. Andreas Esser, Executive Vice President and Head of Business Unit Commercial Vehicle Tires (Image: Continental AG)

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Continental’s tire business growth in the Americas has consistently exceeded the market over the last five years. “We continue to see customer demand for our commercial vehicle tire products,” underlined Dr. Andreas Esser, Executive Vice President and Head of the Business Unit Commercial Vehicle Tires. “This holds for new truck and bus tires as well as for retreads which are growing beyond our existing capacity in the Americas,” he said.

“The team has worked hard over the past several years to add value to our commercial fleet customers by expanding our service offerings in order to lower the overall operating costs,” said Paul Williams, Executive Vice President, Continental Commercial Vehicle Tires, the Americas. “As a result, we continue to enjoy solid growth in our business and a demand for more commercial vehicle tires. As we plan our growth, we have found this site provides significant advantages for a future tire plant in terms of its large skilled workforce, as well as its ideal location and infrastructure. The state of Mississippi has developed an outstanding business climate and this site met all of our needs for projected growth in the near as well as in the longer term.”

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Barry Guildford, who began his career with the Continental market organization in Great Britain in 2001, is appointed to the new position. Since the middle of 2012, Barry has been Marketing Director for truck tires at Continental EMEA Headquarters in Hanover.

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Barry Guildford, Sales Director Truck Tires EMEA for Continental (Photo: Continental AG)

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Daniel Gainza is appointed as the new Marketing Director for the EMEA region. Spanish by birth, Daniel joined Continental in 1998. Most recently he was Sales Director at the Continental market organization in Italy, where he was responsible for the commercial vehicle tire sector.

Ralf Benack becomes the new Retreading Director. Ralf was previously Director of Sales and Marketing for truck tires in the APAC (Asia-Pacific) region. He replaces Christian Sass, who held this position since 2009 and who has opted to take a year’s sabbatical in 2016.

In their new roles, Barry Guildford, Daniel Gainza and Ralf Benack will report directly to Constantin Batsch, Head of the Business Unit Truck Tires Replacement Business EMEA.

Herbert Mensching, who has been Director of Sales and Marketing for Truck Tires EMEA for sixteen years (!), will be responsible for strategic project management and in his new function will continue to report directly to Constantin Batsch.

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The retreading crisis has led to structural overcapacity in the production of retreaded tires in Europe and has meant Michelin is now forced to rationalize its industrial base by focusing its retreading activities on a limited number of sites. For information, the volume of the European retreading market fell 25% between 2007 and 2015.

90 million euros in new investment by 2020 in Clermont-Ferrand to accelerate the transformation of the Clermont-Ferrand sites into industrial and technological centres of excellence

In the context of its industrial competitiveness strategy launched in France in 2013, Michelin would like to consolidate the positioning of its Clermont-Ferrand sites on activities with high technological content and high added value, in particular by exploiting synergies with its global research and development centre in Ladoux, near Clermont-Ferrand. With this in mind, Michelin is engaging in a new €90 million investment programme to finance equipment and advanced processes on its sites in Cataroux, Combaude and Gravanches.

• The Combaude site will specialize in the role of supporting the development of new products. Its industrial and technical innovation missions will be strengthened, particularly as regards the design of curing moulds and high technology textile reinforcements, and the development of specific tools for manufacturing processes. It will also continue to operate its logistics activities.
• The Cataroux site will benefit from major investment to finance new production processes to develop the production of racing tires and their components, and also to strengthen its industrial missions in support of research and development activities.
• The Gravanches site, which manufactures high performance car and van tires using the most innovative processes, will receive investment to further increase the highly technical nature of its products.

Reorganization of Engineering by the end of 2018, without any compulsory redundancies

Michelin Group Engineering has 2400 employees worldwide, 1100 in France, with 970 in Clermont-Ferrand. After a several month-long study, Michelin is reorganizing Engineering by creating a Manufacturing Engineering (ME) entity, the global management of which will be located on the Carmes site in Clermont-Ferrand.

This new organization aims to improve the development and deployment of the Group’s industrial processes. The teams located in Clermont-Ferrand will focus on the global management of the activity, the coordination of developments in processes and the development of the most innovative projects in conjunction with the global Technology Center in Ladoux.

The reorganization will result in 164 job cuts by the end of 2018, all based in Clermont-Ferrand, but without any compulsory redundancies. A voluntary internal mobility plan will be offered to the engineering employees concerned by the project in Clermont-Ferrand, mostly executives. Employees who choose this functional mobility plan will all be able to move into new positions on a Clermont-Ferrand site or in the area. The internal mobility plan will be supplemented by a voluntary early retirement plan for people nearing retirement.

Development of other Group „Support“ services

Other Michelin Group „Support“ services in Clermont-Ferrand will over time gradually adapt their organizations.

Over the next few years, the transformation of the Group’s business lines into service activities and the retirement of numerous people working in the central services represent a challenge for the Group in terms of skills, training and developing people. Michelin will anticipate and support these changes in the context of the GPEC (jobs and skills management) negotiations with union organizations.

As required by law, Michelin will present an employment protection plan to the employee representative bodies at a special meeting of the central works committee and the Clermont-Ferrand works committee to be held on 16 March. The company management will present its proposals for measures to support employees in the re-treading workshop on the Combaude site and for those employees affected by the reorganization of engineering.

The GPEC negotiations with the unions, intended to anticipate and manage the changes in business lines and skills for the Group’s French employees until 2019, will begin in early April 2016.

Adapting Michelin’s activities in Clermont-Ferrand is part of the Group’s commitment to drive its strategy for competitiveness and industrial change in a spirit of responsibility towards its employees and the territories where it operates. By strengthening the positioning of its Clermont sites on to industrial and service activities with high added value, Michelin intends reaffirming its anchorage in Clermont-Ferrand, the historic cradle of the company.

To finance these restructuring projects, the Michelin Group will enter a provision of approximately €55 million euros in non-recurring expenses in its accounts to 30 June 2016.

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For cold retreading of tires on city buses, Continental offers the Conti Urban HA3 tread with M+S (Mud and Snow) labeling. The Conti Urban HA3 tread compound, together with its tread design of deep sipes, is specially designed for urban use and provides optimal lane-keeping capabilities, even in very wet conditions, an extremely low rolling noise as well as a high level of driving comfort.

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The new ContiTread tread Conti CityPlus HA3 for cold retreading of tires on regional buses. (Photo: Continental AG)

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With its proven reliability in construction-site traffic, the HDC1 tread is now available in the HDC1 (M) variant. The new tread has a lower tread depth than its sister model, offering a more cost-effective alternative for efficient use in construction-site traffic when used as a tire with lower performance expectations based on its application.

In the goods transport segment, the successful tread HTL1 Eco Plus is now also available for trailer tires in size 445/45 R 19.5. This is Continental’s response to the growing demand for tires for high-volume transport – and the company is now offering its powerful ContiTread treads for cold retreading in this segment.

And just in time for the upcoming winter season, Continental is also offering winter tire treads for cold retreading. The drive axle tread HDW 2 SCANDINAVIA with M+S label is available in the important tire sizes 315/80 R 22.5, 315/70 R 22.5, and 295/80 R 22.5. The ContiTread winter range is rounded off with the HTW 2 SCANDINAVIA winter tire tread for trailers and semitrailers in sizes 385/65 R 22.5 and 385/55 R 22.5.

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All ContiTread treads such as the new Conti Urban HA3 M+S for tires on city buses, are marked with the ContiTread symbol. (Image: Continental AG)

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All ContiTread treads are based on the same tread designs, compounds and technologies used for new Continental tires, ensuring they provide comparably similar performance to new tires whilst also saving costs and resources. All ContiTread treads are optimally designed for use with Continental carcasses. However, they also achieve very good results on the carcasses of other premium manufacturers.

ContiTread is part of the modular ContiLifeCycle concept, where Continental supplies its customers with cost-effective service solutions throughout the entire tire life, from new tires through regrooving, casing management, to retreading.

In addition to the significant cost savings for the end customer, retreading is good for the environment, as valuable resources such as crude oil, natural rubber, and water are consumed in far smaller quantities. A considerable amount of CO² can also be saved, as retreading requires up to 70 percent less energy compared to manufacturing a new tire.

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