Neumann discusses Continental's future

April 24, 2009

Continental AG says it will present "a sustainable overall concept on the basis of (the company's) potential for the future" within the next 100 days.

Continental and The Schaeffler Group "have launched a project that addresses the advantages to be derived from cooperating with The Schaeffler Group in the automotive business," Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann, Continental executive board chairman, announced at Continental's annual shareholders meeting yesterday, April 23, in Hanover, Germany.

Continental and Schaeffler's previously announced joint purchasing alliance has proven to be an "initial success and one... from which better results can be anticipated than originally assumed," said Neumann.

Continental's future growth will hinge on its access to capital, he explained. "We see superb chances for increasing valuation because the ingredients for continuing Continental's success story are all there," including "the broad portfolio, particularly of highly innovative products to cater to the megatrends in the automobile industry," and others.

"Fundamental direction-setting decisions will be required to enable Continental to develop positively and address challenges."

Addressing tire supply, Neumann said that Continental has a passenger/light truck overcapacity of 15 million units in Europe. (The company has a commercial tire overcapacity of some 1.8 million units.)

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