Continental is a significant participant within the European tyre market, however within the Indian market an insignificant one. With an aftermarket-only enterprise technique, Continental plans to play a technology-led recreation to reinforce its presence in India. ”What we’re eyeing for is extra premium merchandise, and bringing extra applied sciences. We usually are not ramping up our quantity share considerably although we undoubtedly wish to develop our volumes,” Samir Gupta, MD, Continental Tires India, and Head of Central Region, BA Tires, APAC, stated.Intelligent tyre

In 2023, Continental launched what it calls an ‘intelligent tyre’ for the Indian industrial automobile sector. The tyre, geared up with a sensor, offers info on tyre’s air strain, temperature, and kms run to the fleet proprietor by an app, and to the motive force by an indicator. According to Gupta, it’s the first-of-its-kind within the Indian trade.

An analogous providing for the passenger automobile phase is at present being developed collectively by Continental’s tyre and automotive enterprise divisions. In the CV tyre, the sensors are placed on the internal traces of the tyres. Taking the identical strategy for passenger automobile (PV) tyres could also be tough as PV tyres have thinner partitions. “TPMS (Tyre Pressure Monitoring System) is something that we are still trying to develop whether it can be embedded into the tyre itself. Can we have features which are more connected to the driver through the TPMS. This is what we are working on,” says Gupta.

New tyre for on and off-road driving

While an ‘intelligent tyre’ for PVs continues to be within the works, what Continental sees a rising alternative in is the Indian midsize automobile and SUV market. It has not too long ago launched a brand new vary known as CrossContact H/T designed for ‘the market’s wants of driving on and off-road (80% on and 20% off-road)’. These tyres are designed for 15 and 18-inch rim sizes.

With this introduction, Continental appears to extend its single-digit market share which the corporate wouldn’t wish to disclose. According to Gupta, the Indian aftermarket dimension is round 29 million models for PV tyres, and 17 million for M&HCV tyres. The estimated annual progress for the PV aftermarket tyre phase is 3-4%, and 5-7% for the CV tyre phase.

End of bias tyre manufacturing

Continental Tires began its India journey in 1975 with a know-how licence settlement with Modi Rubber. In 2011, it acquired the Indian tyre firm reportedly for INR 117 crore. The journey, which began with bias tyres for CVs, noticed the manufacturing of the final such tyre in 2023. Currently, the Modipuram plant, in Uttar Pradesh, produces solely radials, for CVs and PVs.

Though tube-type tyres have just about exited the PV phase, within the CV phase, Gupta says, their share is round 95%. Taking cognisance of this truth, Continental claims that it gives tyre know-how that enables re-treading as much as thrice, in opposition to the standard as soon as within the trade. “To give that confidence to our customers on our product, we give a casing warranty even after the re-treading, though we are not the re-readers,” says Gupta. According to him, with a number of re-treading, the tyres can run for as much as 300,000 km.

New providing for CVs

To play the know-how card additional, Continental plans to launch a brand new vary of CV tyres, “between Q1 and Q2” of this calendar 12 months, which claims to help in attaining 10-20% higher gasoline effectivity than Continental’s present vary. The rubber put on price can even be decrease, based on the corporate.

Next gen tyre for PVs,

On the PV facet, together with the introduction of the CrossContact vary, Continental is introducing the following era ‘PremiumContact 6 tyres, an upgrade from its ‘SportContact 5’ tyre vary.

Even after the introduction of the most recent CrossContact H/T tyre vary, there are some gaps nonetheless which Continental plans to bridge. “When I see the market, the overloading trend is coming down because of various regulations which are becoming more and more implemented now. Good for us. And, on the passenger vehicle side we still do see some gaps in terms of sizes which we are adding now,” Gupta stated.

What can be making international tyre producers step up manufacturing in India is the Government imposed restriction on tyre imports, introduced in 2020. Till then tyre sizes 19-inch and above have been largely imported. “2021 or 2022 was the time when we got these 19- and 20-inch sizes into India, with a special marketing line which was the SportContact 5,” Gupta stated.

With the Indian financial system in a wholesome state, and a revised upward progress revision, Continental appears at tapping the India alternative additional. Its automotive enterprise division, with a world technical centre, already has a significant presence. The tyre enterprise division, which is taking “baby steps” after organising the totally owned entity in 2011, has an R&D workforce which coordinates with technical colleagues in Hanover and Malaysia to develop India-specific merchandise.

“All the products are tailor-made for India. We are not selling any product which we sell in any other part of the world. The tyre robustness is the highest in these products. We don’t sell this kind of robustness in Malaysia, or in Europe, or in the Americas, and not even in China,” says Gupta.

What Gupta would like to not speak about at this stage is his firm’s manufacturing capability. However, based on him final 12 months the corporate bought almost no matter it may produce, and for this 12 months he would say, “I can only tell you that by the end of this year we will increase our current capacity by double digit percentage of the current capacity.”

The numbers usually are not big, however the strategy being taken by Continental for its tyre enterprise in India is to take “baby steps, not putting any pressure on ourselves so that we are bound to sell everything we have, but we are bringing technologies to the Indian market”.

As for India’s function within the general scheme of issues for Continental Tires, he stated, “I believe India is at a stage where no one can ignore India, including Continental.”