Uvalde Proving Grounds is Continental Tire North America, Inc.'s (CTNA) world-class testing facility, situated in the hot desert area 85 miles southwest of San Antonio, Texas. The sizzling sun, wet and dry road surfaces and a state-of-the art facility created an ideal environment for putting tires to the ultimate test.

This is where CTNA hosted its dealers from Canada and USA, as well as journalists for a performance evaluation of its new innovations. CTNA introduced five new high-performance tire lines, in both its Continental and General brand, to the North American market.

The all-new ContiProContact for performance-luxury sedans and the ContiCrossContact UHP for SUV and Light Truck vehicles are designed for high-performance under all road conditions. The Exclaim UHP, Grabber UHP and Grabber HP are General's brand new generation products that position the General Tire products in the expanding high performance segment for the first time.

Continental and General Tire brand high performance products are highly engineered, utilizing global technologies and outdoor testing facilities such as the one in Uvalde. These new products were the focal point for the dealers and journalists during the multi-day performance evaluation event from May 16 through May 20.  CTNA's upper management, sales, product and engineering teams accompanied the guests who heard product presentations, experienced road test demonstrations and received an exclusive tour of the facility.  Mostly, however, participants were behind the wheel of various world-class vehicles, such as Porsche Cayenne, BMW 3 series, and Ford Mustang GT to experience the outstanding performance of these new products on the open track. In addition, participants were able to compare the performance of CTNA's new products to competitors' products.

"We are excited to be introducing five new tire lines to the high performance market at the same time," said Andreas Gerstenberger, VP Sales & Marketing Passenger/Light Truck Replacement Business Unit. "We feel that providing our customers and the media with the opportunity to experience our products under real life conditions is the best way to allow them to feel the technology and performance of these new products."

Uvalde provides one of the most demanding environments of any tire testing facility in the world.  Opened in 1959, the facility consists of off-road, wet testing and oval evaluation courses. Uvalde is used by CTNA (both Continental and General Tire brands) for tire development, testing and evaluation. Auto manufacturers, law enforcement agencies, independent testing firms and the U.S. military also use the site to evaluate tires for endurance, speed and tread wear.  The off road courses are used to test cut resistance, stone retention and other aspects of durability over gravel and rocks.  Other testing areas at Uvalde include:

• Special Testing Area: for curbing tests, puncture/blowout tests.
• Vehicle Dynamics Area: a 640,000 square foot moisture controlled wet pad, 1.1-mile dry-handling course, 3-mile multi-surfaced oval for ride and noise evaluation.
• Hydroplaning Test Course:  a 250 feet long course used for ABS wet braking or non-ABS skid braking.
• Wet Grip Facilities:  added in 1997, is an exact replica of the Contidrome facility in Germany.  This facility incorporates an asphalt wet-grip test circle for lateral hydroplaning and lateral acceleration testing.

CTNA has invested more than $10 million during the past decade to develop this multi-use tire testing facility to build superior performance tires and to ensure customer satisfaction with Continental products.

About Continental Tire North America, Inc.

Continental Tire North America, Inc. (www.continentaltire.com), based in Charlotte, North Carolina, is a group company of Germany-based Continental AG, a leading systems supplier to the automotive industry. With annual sales of more than a billion dollars, Continental Tire North America, Inc. has about 7,000 employees and operates six plants in North America. CTNA is a major supplier to the original equipment and replacement tire markets, selling Continental, General, Euzkadi and private brands in North America.