The award was presented yesterday at the BUS2BUS trade show in Berlin. In the eyes of the expert jury, the tires from Continental performed best of all the contenders in the Tires and Tire Management category. This once again demonstrates how the technology company is focusing on the future with its product portfolio, which it is tailoring to customer requirements. After all, a study recently carried out by Boston Consulting on behalf of the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA) revealed that, although total cost of ownership is still the top priority, sustainability factors are becoming increasingly important purchasing criteria – both for OE and on the aftermarket. “Sustainability and cost efficiency have long gone hand in hand at Continental,” said Continental’s Head of Marketing Replacement Tires, Timo Röbbel, at the presentation, pointing out that this is attracting growing interest in the market. “The busplaner sustainability award is proof that we are moving in the right direction with our strategy.”
Groundbreaking: intelligent Conti Urban bus tires
This year is the sixth time that the trade magazine “busplaner” from publisher Huss-Verlag has presented the “International busplaner Sustainability Award” for outstanding sustainability-related achievements. The awards go to companies from the bus industry that play a pioneering role in combining economic success with social responsibility and protection of the environment. The Conti Urban bus tires are a prime example of this. With these smart tires, Continental is helping its customers to successfully meet the increasing demands they face with the help of digital solutions. The Conti Urban tire family is a proven specialist in meeting the demands of downtown traffic. Since 2023, the entire range has been factory fitted with latest-generation sensors. This enables customers to retrieve tire data easily and conveniently via Bluetooth using the ContiConnect On-Site smartphone app.
Fleet management: less CO2, more sustainability
Continental is making a significant contribution to efficient fleet management with its intelligent Conti Urban bus tires and its range of ContiConnect digital solutions. “We make sure that our tires offer energy-efficient operation and a long life, as well as allowing predictive maintenance,” says Timo Röbbel. Smart tires like the Conti Urban make tire monitoring simple, convenient and effective. Operational reliability, longer tire life and good utilization of vehicle capacity are also a great help for lowering carbon emissions and increasing fleet sustainability.
Minimized real-world fleet costs
At the same time, digital tire management makes it possible to minimize real-world fleet costs. Tire sensors additionally provide the basis for capitalizing on other benefits such as remote fleet monitoring and predictive service planning in future. National and international Continental fleet customers have been using intelligent Conti Urban tires for many years now and benefit greatly from their built-in sensor technology. Röbbel lays out the statistics: “Experience has shown that ContiConnect can reduce punctures by around 30 percent for customers, achieve a fuel saving of two percent and increase usable mileage by some ten percent.”
The Conti Urban tire family therefore helps to reduce vehicle breakdowns and downtime, lower carbon emissions and cut costs. “These are all good reasons why we won the ‘International busplaner Sustainability Award’,” concludes Röbbel. “We are delighted with this success.”