Successful worldwide with Driving Dynamics Systems

High-performance development partner to the automobile industry and systems supplier

Day in, day out Continental Teves produces 28,000 antilock brake systems, 97,000 disk brake calipers, 27,000 dual brake master cylinders, 19,000 vacuum brake power assist units, 18,000 brake power regulators and 103,000 brake hoses. This is in addition to the production of tire pressure monitoring systems, air spring systems and complete wheels, making Continental Teves one of the world's major suppliers of systems and components for the automobile industry.

ESP - New Dimension in Driving Safety

For almost 100 years now, Continental Teves has been developing and making systems that help control the dynamic forces to which automobiles are subjected. This striving after greater driving safety has culminated most recently in the development of the electronic stability program (ESP), which Continental Teves currently supplies to Audi, BMW, Ford, VW, Volvo and Mercedes-Benz. This safety system is already standard equipment in compact and standard-size vehicles. And so ESP does not remain limited - as did ABS in its early years - to top-class cars.

Technologies for the future

Future-oriented technologies have found their way into other Continental Teves products as well. Tire pressure monitoring systems have matured to the point of mass-production readiness; it is now already possible to service carmakers' assembly lines with ready-to-install air spring systems. Electromechanical and electrohydraulic brake systems (electric brakes) as well as electric parking brakes have made huge progress in their development. Like the hill-climbing systems, that keep the car from rolling backwards when driving or parking uphill, they will considerably enhance driving safety and comfort in the future. With the Integrated Starter Alternator Damper (ISAD) Continental Teves has developed a uniquely compact unit to production readiness. The system was honored with the German Industry Innovation Award in 1997.

World's Major Producer of Disk Brakes

Continental Teves, headquartered in Frankfurt/Main, is the world's major producer of disk brakes. The company, which grew out of the former Alfred Teves GmbH and was acquired by Continental AG, Hannover, in 1998, ranks no. 2 worldwide with respect to antilock brake systems and brake power assist units. In 1998 Continental Teves realized sales of just under DM4 billion. Around half of total sales are in the business with ABS, ASR (acceleration slip regulation) and ESP, where the company commands 26 percent of the market (and a whole 39 percent in Europe). 30 percent of sales is to be attributed to the manufacture of disk brakes, where Continental Teves services the needs of 18 percent of the world and 35 percent of the European market. Continental Teves realizes 63 percent of its sales in Europe, 25 percent in North America, seven percent in South America and five percent in Asia.

Continental Teves employs 10,775 people, 51 percent of whom work in Germany, 23 percent in the rest of Europe, 13 percent in North America, 11 percent in South America and just under 2 percent in China. Continental Teves maintains 22 state-of-the-art plants in Europe, South America and the USA. Development centers in Frankfurt and Detroit ensure that the company remains within easy reach of the customer. Its own test tracks in Sweden and Michigan establish a perfect basis for effective development and testing.

Top competence in the electronics area

The ultracomplex ESP, in particular, highlight the increasingly important role electronics are playing in vehicle construction. Continental Teves has paid homage to this fact for years now. The development department for high-tech electronic software, for example, employs around 120 and ensures the companies cutting-edge competence in this area. The electronics hard- and software development area fosters partnerships with Motorola, Philips, Siemens, Temic and Texas Instruments and is thus in touch with leading companies in the electronics industry.