Conti's farm tire revival up and running

HANOVER, Germany — The revival of Continental A.G.'s agricultural tire business is commercially off and running, with the debut of the first line of Continental-brand premium radial agricultural tires.

"Re-entering the agricultural tire business is an important step for us on the growth path of the tire division," according to Nikolai Setzer, member of Conti's executive board and head of the tire division.

"Over the past few years, we have been able to successfully expand the specialty tire business with the launch of port and earthmoving tires. The agricultural tire portfolio completes the product range for off-road use."

Continental disclosed its intention to revive the agricultural business in early 2014 after a 10-year hiatus. Conti exited the farm tire business in 2004 when it sold its agricultural tire activities to CGS Group of Czech Republic, including rights to the name and production capacity at a plant in Otrokovice, Czech Republic.

The re-entry now starts with a pair of standard radial drive tires for farm tractors — Tractor70 and Tractor85 — that feature a new bead technology and use an innovative nylon material called "N.flex," for which a patent is pending.

The new products are being launched in Europe and should be available in North America before year-end. The portfolio is to be expanded to 100 sizes by 2019.

The tires are designed to increase the performance of agricultural machinery and the quality of their work, while reducing the resources deployed, and thus are badged with an "Engineered for Efficiency" label.

Conti is producing the tires at its plant in Lousada, Portugal, where it invested $56 million to modernize and expand the plant to accommodate the farm tire range.

The investment also covered adding a test and development center at Lousada, where the agricultural tires are tested for quality and developed further.

Continental is launching the tire line with a communication campaign that "combines passion with technical expertise and innovation" and reflects Continental's strong customer focus, the company said.

It emphasizes the devotion farmers have for their job and highlights the soil as the origin of the farmer's harvest and yield and how Continental tires can help protect the soil.

Continental Tire the Americas is still evaluating the possibility of adding a line of General-branded farm tires.