By Denna Bowman

Continental has won two coveted winter tyres awards from top UK motoring magazines.

The German tyres company received the accolades for the ContiWinterContact TS830P from the best selling car magazine, Auto Express, and monthly title evo.

It is Auto Express magazines second ever winter tyre test, aimed at highlighting exceptional performance, quality, safety, desirability and value alongside the magazine’s annual tyre tests.

The awards are seen within the motoring industry as a stamp of approval offering motoring enthusiasts confidence when looking for their next winter tyre purchase.

Auto Express commented, “Consistently good performances earn Continental our winter tyre crown. Great all round performance with no weaknesses, sees off winter rivals and takes the win.”

The first evo winter tyre test echoed this opinion in its December issue. Tested against eight competitor winter and all-season tyres in size 225/45R17, the awards recognised the ContiWinterContact TS830P across a broad spectrum, ranging from snow tests to road feel and refinement.

evo said, “Continental is the best performer overall, with solid results seeing it take first place. What our test shows is that not only are winter tyres vastly superior in the snow but that the best outperform a quality summer tyre when the roads are wet and near freezing.”

Continental tyres has been driving home the clear message that you get what you pay for when it comes to tyres.

Conti has held a series of ‘experience days’ for the benefit of fleets, safety associations and trade at MIRA this year to promote the message, according to Tyres and Accessories.

The firm also ran presentations and demonstrations on the benefits of greater tread depth, winter tyre usage, OE development and the evolution of its on ContiSportContact range.

But as far as the budget versus premium comparison is concerned, Continental used MIRA’s facilities to demonstrate that – especially in wet conditions – premium rubber compounds and casing construction make all the difference, however similar a tread pattern may look to a premium tyre.

Taking a comparison from the food retailing industry, Continental raised an interesting point about an apparent lack of consumer awareness when it comes to tyres: “Consumers have a clear understanding of the difference between a budget supermarket brand and a premium one when it comes to food; for example, – the quality of the ingredients is much better and, as a result, it tastes nicer. However, many people are unaware of the differences between premium and budget when it comes to tyre brands,” Conti explained.

According to Tyres and Accessories: “During the day Continental ably demonstrated the performance gap between the top and the bottom ends of the quality divide, but with some pretty start contrasts here alone it raises other questions.

“All the research points to large numbers of UK motorists driving on underinflated tyres which also greatly increase stopping distances and reduce handling performance.

“Since the recession, there has been consistent anecdotal reports of retailers taking off increasing amounts of illegal and bald tyres. With this in mind, what kind of stopping distances would these motorists achieve driving blissfully unaware on underinflated, illegally low tread and poorly selected tyres?”

Savvy motorists have discovered that they can still afford premium and mid-range tyres by shopping online to compare prices and get the best deals.

etyres operate a convenient mobile tyre fitting service, and because our overheads are low we pass the savings on to our customers with prices up to 40% cheaper than the leading high street tyre chains.

Denna Bowman, Head Office

Some really amusing facts and stats coming out of Continental tyres latest survey, for example, rate these occasions in order of stress rating - giving birth, breaking down and moving house?

You might be surprised to learn that giving birth comes third, way behind breaking down - which is a walk in the park compared to moving house.

Continental Tyres quizzed 2000 people to find out what gets them hot under the collar and 51% said they’d started their holiday with a row – and that they had an average of three spats with partners or family members during the trip.

The survey also revealed that it takes an average of two days and six hours for holidaymakers to relax once they’ve reached their destination – and 15% said they were more tense after their holiday than before they went.

Here are the top 10 causes of stress:

1) Moving house
2) Job interview
3) Crashing car
4) Problems on holiday; getting lost, driving abroad
5) Paying off credit card
6) Wallet being stolen
7) Breaking down
Wedding day
9) First day of a new job
10) Giving birth

Denna Bowman, Head Office

Apparently, more than half of us UK motorists have started our holiday with a row with our partners or a family member, according to a new survey by a leading tyres manufacturer.

Continental Tyres, which carried out the poll, said a relaxing holiday often turns into a stressful experience for people when things don’t go according to plan.

Motorists have an average of three arguments throughout the journey and around 15% end up more stressed after their holiday than before.

Getting lost on unknown routes and disagreements over directions are among the leading causes of in-car spats, a survey of 2,000 people revealed.

Faults with the car account for nearly one-fifth (18%) of the problems during a holiday trip.

Tim Bailey, spokesman for Continental, said: “The anticipation of a great and much-needed holiday builds expectations - and when problems occur, stress levels rise.

“What really creates tension is when something happens that better planning would have avoided.”

Denna Bowman, Head Office

By Denna Bowman

Continental tyres has announced it has received two new original equipment approvals from Mercedes-Benz.

The sporty CLS sedan will roll off the line with tyres from the development department in Hanover and Continental has also been awarded another approval for tyres for the high-end versions of the Viano and the Vito.

Mercedes decided on tyres from the development department of Europe’s leading tyre manufacturer since the tyre models transfer handling performance reliably to the road while saving fuel.

Tyres of the sizes 255/35 R 19 and 285/30 R 19 will be fit on the CLS, which boasts power of up to 300kW (408 HP). The Viano and Vito, with up to 119 kW (approx. 162 HP), now also features the ContiSportContact 5 of the size 245/45 R 19.

Both summer tyre models are specialised for their application: The ContiSportContact 5 P was designed with powerful sporty vehicle in mind. ContiSportContact 5 – its “little brother” – provides for good grip, reliable cornering performance and short braking distances on sporty cars and powerful vans.

Continental labels the tyres of the ContiSportContact 5 P model for the CLS with the additional designation “MO” (Mercedes original equipment).

The advertising award category is always one of the highlights of the TAFF Awards and the 2011 finalists are all strong contenders.

Continental took the honours in 2010 and 2009 and have made it into the final five again this year along with Hankook, Michelin, Pirelli and newcomer Infinity Tyres Europe.

The ‘Industry Advertising Campaign Award, sponsored by Tyres and Accessories magazine, has always showcased a series of creative and effective advertising campaigns, across a variety of media.

Here is a synopsis of the finalists entries:

Continental Tyre Group: Conti4×4Trophy

The Conti4×4Trophy has been one of the biggest promotions staged by Continental, where consumers competed to win the trip of a lifetime in Morocco driving Hummers through the Atlas Mountains and Sahara Desert.

Hankook Tyre UK: Be One With It

Hankook are delighted to have also been nominated for the 2011 TAFF Awards for the ‘Industry Advertising Campaign Award’. Earlier this year saw the launch of Hankook’s new global advertising campaign ‘Be One with It’. This formed part of the brand’s strategy to become one of the world’s top premium tyre makers.
The campaign focuses on the driver’s feeling of ‘being one’ with the tyre and the road. Extreme sports such as ‘base jumping’ with specially designed wing suits are utilised to present the theme. The message that confidence in equipment brings out the best performance in sports is consistent with Hankook’s assurance in its tyres enabling the best possible driving experience.

Tony Lee, managing director of Hankook UK said “We are thrilled to have been nominated for the ‘Industry Advertising Campaign Award’ as we endeavour to further enhance the dynamic Hankook brand. The success of our ‘Be One with It’ campaign is further acknowledged with the association to the TAFF Awards which we are excited to be part of for both highly commendable categories.”

Michelin Tyre Plc

Michelin’s UK advertising campaign is being deployed across a wide range of multi media platforms. These include television, consumer and trade magazines, national newspapers, posters in motorway service stations, web advertising and substantial POS coverage. Computer animation and imaging has made the Michelin Man even more visible and is greatly improving recall of Michelin’s messages.

The main brand message has been ‘the right tyre changes everything’. Following on from last year’s themes of fuel saving and safety, the third phase of the campaign in 2011 is longevity.

Pirelli Tyres

Since the 1950s, when Pirelli’s adverts first featured the world’s most successful racing driver – Juan Manuel Fangio – to promote its Stelvio tyres, the Italian company has been well known for its innovative and stylish advertising campaigns. These ads perfectly reflect Pirelli’s traditional brand values of sophistication, elegance and technology.

Times have changed but Pirelli’s message has remained the same, with the slogan ‘power is nothing without control’ becoming an industry standard, personified by sprinter Carl Lewis on the starting blocks for a race – wearing stiletto heels.

Infinity Tyres Europe Ltd

Here’s how Infinity Tyres Europe general manager, Jorge Crespo, summed up the company’s recent advertising campaign: “We wanted the tyre to be the main character of the show, as opposed to most tyre adverts and campaigns where tyres are not protagonists (usually you show pictures of nice cars, models or kids to try and awake emotional engagement)…we defined the personality of the Infinity brand to be fresh, young, dynamic, technically advanced and forward looking.

“Because everybody was doing the adverts on physical photos of the tyres, we decided to x-ray all our different tyres, reinforcing the patterns’ cosmetic appearance, playing with our corporate identity colour (the blue) and the company DNA.”

Denna Bowman, Head Office

By Denna Bowman

Continental has completed its acquisition of India’s Modi Tyres for a round $25 million.

The German tyres manufacturer will rename its new company Continental Tyres India Ltd.

The new business will focus on local production and distribution of bias and radial tyres as well as radial passenger car tyres for the Indian market.

Continental Tyres India will have its registered office in Delhi with manufacturing facilities in Modipuram and Partapur. An integration team is working with the new employees on achieving an optimal start for Continental Tyres India, with the full set of resources now available from Continental.

Both parties have agreed to keep other commercial details of the transaction confidential, however, the total amount that Continental paid to buy 5.6 million shares in Modi Tyres Company includes a non-compete fee $3.87 million.

By Denna Bowman

The importance of social media has been highlighted by news that Continental is introducing two new truck tyres in response to comments on Facebook.

The tyres manufacturer has based its decision after an enthusiastic response from the Mid- America Trucking Show and ExpoCam trush show in Canada, teamed with positive feedback on its Facebook page.

The message they received from customers has led Continental to launch not one, but two super single truck tyres.

In March the company invited people to visit its trucking show booth and offer opinions about two competing designs for a wide single drive tyre on its Facebook page.

The company repeated the invitation at Canada’s national truck show, ExpoCam, in early April. After speaking with hundreds of show visitors and reading the comments left for the research and development team on Facebook, it decided both designs should be brought to market.

Clif Armstrong, director of marketing, said: “Originally when we invited our customers to give us feedback on the designs for the product, we were envisioning one, wide single drive tyre for highway use.

“However, the response was enthusiastic for both designs – so much so that we knew they both had a legitimate place in our product portfolio.”

It’s about the time when the kids start bringing home their end of year reports - but in the meantime Continental tyres have invited our little ones to give a candid report on our driving habits!

The results will raise a few eyebrows, with 63 per cent revealing their parents are aggressive drivers and 13 per cent scared or embarrassed by their mum and dad’s driving.

But one of the things that tickled us was how underwhelmed our children are by the car their parents drive - with 42 per cent wishing they were chauffeured in a cooler vehicle.

Whilst most kids favour a sports car or 4×4, a surprising 14 per cent of those aged four to seven want the family car to be a monster truck and another seven per cent want a camper van.

However, it’s not all bad news for mum and dad. When asked if their parents drove them around enough for their activities and to see friends, a reassuring 84 per cent of the 1,000 children quizzed said yes.

Denna Bowman, Head Office

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By Denna Bowman

Nearly two-thirds of children admit their mums and dads are aggressive drivers, according to a poll by a leading tyres manufacturer.

And the survey carried out for Continental tyres also revealed that 13 per cent are scared or embarrassed by their parents performance behind the wheel of a car, while 23 per cent of the children said that they had been in an accident with either mum or dad driving.

Continental tyres surveyed 1,000 children between the ages of four and 16 and asked them to report what they had witnessed and to say how they felt about their parents driving - and the results might make mum and dad think twice about their behaviour.

When 1,000 children between the ages of four and 16 were polled with 63 per cent revealling their parents shout at other road users and one in five reported that their ‘responsible adult’ used a mobile phone while driving despite this being banned in December 2003.

The back-seat view revealed that 40 per cent of youngsters get upset when mum or dad loses it behind the wheel and one in three gets embarrassed.

The poor driving skills prompt 22 per cent of children to slump down in their seat to try to hide and one in five have told their elders to improve their driving, despite 14 per cent saying they were too scared to tell their parents that they were unimpressed.

Tim Bailey, safety expert for Continental Tyres said: “There are some serious failings highlighted here revealing poor driving practices and lack of courtesy by millions of motorists.

“What compounds that situation is the impact it has on the children. Nearly one in ten said they had gripped the seat in response to the speed of their parents driving.

“The assumption might have been that driving with a child in the car would prompt greater care and attention, but this evidence suggests not, and poor driving habits are potentially being ingrained in future motorists.”

According to four in five kids (80 per cent), dad is more likely to speed. However mum is nearly three times more likely to be their ‘taxi’ ferrying them to school, activities and friends.

Mr Bailey added: “Parents are normally very aware of the need to be good role models; this survey reminds them of the need to continue when they get behind the wheel.”