The premium tyre manufacturer received a further honour for its tyre plant in Lousado, Portugal, which can produce tyres CO2-neutrally since last year. This makes Continental the only tyre manufacturer to win two of the prestigious awards, outperforming the competition as “Tyre Manufacturer of the Year” as well as in the category “Environmental Achievement of the Year – Manufacturing”. The awards were bestowed as part of the Tyre Technology Expo on March 4 at the exhibition centre in Hanover. They are regarded as some of the top honours in the industry.
“We are especially proud to be the only manufacturer to be honored twice at the Tyre Technology Awards in an extremely competitive field,” says Edwin Goudswaard, Head of Research and Development at Continental Tyres. “Both awards highlight our strong commitment to sustainable tyre development and manufacturing. In such a highly competitive market, this success demonstrates our innovative prowess and our ability to actively shape the future of the industry.”
Continental awarded “Tyre Manufacturer of the Year” for the fourth time
Competition in both categories was fierce. As “Tyre Manufacturer of the Year,” Continental outperformed competitors from the USA, Italy and France. This marks the fourth time Continental has received this title – most recently in 2022.
Sustainability efforts are becoming an increasingly important focus for the industry, and therefore for the awards. By naming Continental “Tyre Manufacturer of the Year” for 2024, the jury of 27 independent industry experts acknowledged Continental’s ongoing achievements on the road to greater sustainability. The projects considered in their deliberations included increasing the share of sustainable materials through recycled PET bottles at further Continental plants, expanding the plant in Rayong, Thailand, according to the highest energy-efficiency standards, obtaining the international sustainability certification ISCC-PLUS for its plants in Lousado, Portugal, Puchóv, Slovakia, and Hefei, China, as well as upgrading the tyre plant in Hefei with automation technology in line with state-of-the-art sustainability standards.
Sustainability awards: Continental already honored multiple times
Continental has also repeatedly impressed the jury in award categories that specifically recognize environmentally friendly development and production measures. In 2024, for example, the company took top spot in the category “Environmental Achievement of the Year – Tyre Design” with its sustainable production of the tyre UltraContact NXT.
This year, Continental won the prize in the “Manufacturing” category for the sustainability measures at its tyre plant in Lousado, Portugal. Since 2024, the plant has been testing a CO2-neutral production process that advances the company’s ambition to achieve carbon neutrality. Thanks to a fully electric steam boiler Continental generates the steam using both in-house produced solar power and renewable energy from the grid. Steam is needed to heat the rubber compound for the tyres during the so-called vulcanisation. During this process raw rubber is turned into a flexible, elastic form. In the tyre industry, a large proportion of the consumed energy is used for generating steam. Previously, the Lousado tyre plant relied exclusively on natural gas for steam generation. With an annual production capacity of 18 million tyres, the plant in Lousado is considered a mega plant. Continental is aiming to switch all of its tyre plants to fully carbon-neutral production processes by 2040 at the latest.
The Tyre Technology International Awards for Innovation and Excellence have been bestowed since 2008 as part of the Tyre Technology Expo in Hanover each spring. The prizes span 13 categories honouring the latest innovations in tyre technology and major advances on the road to a more sustainable tyre industry. The award ceremony is coordinated by the industry magazine “Tyre Technology International.”