2008.09.23

Hanover, September 2008. Continental’s HTR 2 is the first tyre with AirKeep® technology. With the new inner liner, a tyre retains its proper inflation pressure level up to 50% longer. This ensures a number of advantages.

A special rubber inner liner has long since replaced the inner tube in belted tyres. Special types of butyl rubber are used for this. Their molecular structure allows for little diffusion of air.

"With a nano-altered material, tyre pressure remains at the optimum level 50% longer," reports Karim Fraiss, a tyre developer at Continental Truck Tyres in Hanover. The material’s enlarged rubber molecules allow even less air to get through than the material usually used in the past. The user clearly stands to benefit. The tyre has an extended life expectancy and diesel consumption is reduced. Optimum inflation pressure makes for less deformation and a better wear pattern. It also improves the rolling resistance coefficient. And the structural components inside the tyre are less exposed to the aggressive effects of oxygen molecules.

AirKeep® technology will gradually find its way into other commercial vehicle tyres in the new lineup. Continental has patented the AirKeep® inner liner for optimum retention of inflation pressure.

Continental Truck Tyres, Europe

With targeted annual sales of more than €26.4 billion for 2008, the Continental Corporation is one of the top automotive suppliers worldwide. As a supplier of brake systems, systems and components for the powertrain and chassis, instrumentation, infotainment solutions, vehicle electronics, tyres and technical elastomers, the corporation contributes towards enhanced driving safety and protection of the global climate. Continental is also a competent partner in networked automobile communication. Today, the corporation employs approximately 150,000 people at nearly 200 locations in 36 countries.

The Commercial Vehicle Tyres division, which oversees the development, production and global distribution of truck, bus and industrial tyres, posted a turnover of approx. €1.5bn in 2007 with a workforce of over 8,000 employees.

The tyre divisions are an official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2010^TM, which will be staged in South Africa in 2010. You will find information on this at www.ContiSoccerWorld.de, www.ContiFanWorld.com and www.continental-corporation.com