HANOVER, Germany (Oct. 1, 2008) — Continental A.G. has promoted Alan Hippe to head of its newly restructured rubber group, which comprises the company's tire and non-tire rubber businesses.
Hippe, 41, will continue as Conti's chief financial officer and have direct responsibility for the passenger and light truck tire division, a position he has held since March.
Conti said the restructuring reflects the changing face of the company, which has added more than $15 billion in automotive component supply activities in the past couple of years. In turn, Conti recently was acquired by fellow German automotive supplier Schaeffler Group.
“Following the acquisition of Siemens VDO, we created the three automotive divisions in the summer of 2007,” said Karl-Thomas Neumann, Continental executive board chairman. The company, he continued, is “now taking the next logical steps, creating not only a strong rubber group as a counterpart but, at the same time, setting up very clear management and responsibility structures for both groups.”
The rubber group — consisting of the passenger/light truck and commercial vehicle tire and ContiTech non-tire divisions — accounts for $13 billion in annual sales, or about 36 percent of Conti's overall sales.
In addition, Conti named Heinz-Gerhard Wente to head the ContiTech unit, succeeding the retiring Gerhard Lerch. Wente will continue as executive board member for human resources and director of labor relations for Continental A.G.
Hans-Joachim Nikolin continues as head of the commercial vehicle tires division as well as an executive board member responsible for purchasing, quality and the environment.
Neumann also heads the automotive group, consisting of the chassis/safety, interior and powertrain divisions.