Official Sponsor guarantees safety of world’s best football players and its own guests

06/01/2010 Continental Equips Team and Transfer Buses at 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa^TM with Premium Bus Tyres

Hanover, June 2010. An Official Sponsor and exclusive tyre partner for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa^TM, Continental AG is outfitting all 32 team buses with HSR 1 premium bus tyres. The HSR 1 was designed specifically for use on motorways and in regional transport. It boasts excellent handling, minimal rolling resistance and good mileage. During a tournament, teams are traditionally on the go a lot in the team bus, so the tyre’s safety reserves play a key role.

“In this way, Continental is doing something important to ensure the safety of the world’s top football players. In point of fact, a tyre’s postcard-size contact patch is the sole link to the road," says Passenger and Light Truck Tyre press spokesman Alexander Lührs.

As it was the case for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™, HSR 1 bus tyres will be fitted on all Continental transfer buses. “We want to use the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa as a further means of actively demonstrating the merits of our tyres to our guests,” adds Udo Brandes, Commercial Vehicle Tyres press spokesman.

In South Africa the tyre manufacturer likewise enjoys top standing in the passenger replacement business, controlling 20 per cent of the locally produced tyre market. The 1,600 employees at the Continental passenger and light truck tyre factory in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, turned out around 2.4 million passenger tyres and 100,000 truck tyres in 2009. The tyres are sold both as original equipment and in the replacement business. The tyre demand in Sub-Saharan Africa – and thus in the country in which the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ is taking place – is served mainly from Port Elizabeth.