Continental Tire the Americas executives Travis Roffler (left) and Chris Charity were among the speakers at the Conti Gold Trip, being held in Los Cabos, Mexico.
LOS CABOS, Mexico—Now that Continental Tire the Americas has opened its new corporate headquarters and Retread Solutions Development Center in South Carolina, the tire maker has turned its attention to what it calls its most important partners:
The independent tire dealer.
Conti welcomed several hundred qualifying dealers and their guests, representing 718 points of sale across the U.S., to the 2024 Gold Trip, being held April 6-14 in Los Cabos. The event, in its 19th iteration, included 104 who qualified for their first Gold Trip.
While many of the speakers at the annual meeting were new—including tire industry veteran Ron Sinclair, director of sales distribution; and Andrew Henderson, who has succeeded Debbie Richards (promoted to as the new Gold Program coordinator)—the messaging was the same. It's all about products, people, customer engagement, partnership and creating value, according to Chris Charity, Conti's vice president of sales.
"Our theme ... and our strategy really hasn't changed," he told Tire Business, a Rubber News sister publication. "It's really around, 'How do we support, how do we really believe on this commitment, this partnership?' And it's on both sides.
"We know dealers make a choice every day to do business with us, and we talk through a lot of the things and reasons that we build around on the Continental side, to hold our side of the partnership."
That partnership is one of the reasons that Conti launched three products, including the TrueContact Tour 54, an all-season touring tire for passenger cars and CUVs. The product, which will become available in August, replaces both the TrueContact Tour and the PureContact LS, eliminating 38 SKUs.
The TrueContact Tour 54 will be available in around 60 sizes, covering rim diameters of 15 to 20 inches.
Travis Roffler, Conti's director of marketing, called the product a hybrid power line that was welcomed by dealers.
"It reduces inventory, reduces SKUs and gives them one solution to take to probably a third of the market," Roffler said.
The tire is a direct result of feedback from a dealer council that meets annually and reviews Conti's product planning for the next three to five years.
"And the feedback on this line was get rid of the Pure(Contact), expand the True(Contact) and give us the coverage," Roffler said. "So we took that to heart."
According to Conti, the tire features the Ecoplus technology that provides improved wet and dry braking and handling; extends tread life; and saves fuel. The product comes with Conti's Total Confidence Plan, with treadwear warranty of up to 80,000 miles.
The tire includess Conti's alignment verification system—indicators molded into both sides of the tire tread show whether the tire is wearing evenly or needs alignment—as well as tuned performance indicator—a W, S and D symbols fade when the tire is no longer tuned for optimal performance in wet, snow and dry conditions.
The product is Conti's first to be stamped with the company's EV checkmark, indicating the product is suitable for electric vehicles.
Conti also introduced two other products added recently to the company's portfolio: The VanContact AS Ultra and the ProContact TX 10.
The VanContact AS Ultra is an all-weather product that comes in three 16-inch sizes and is targeted for last-mile delivery vehicles, fleets and contractors, fitting vehicles such as the Ford Transit, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and Ram ProMaster.
Stamped with the industry's Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake symbol, it offers improved performance in snow, robust durability and longer treadlife, Conti said. It, too, comes with treadwear indicator, designated in millimeters (5, or 6/32nds; 4, or 5/32nds; or 3, 4/32nds.
The ProContact TX 10, an all-season touring tire for passenger vehicles and CUVs, has an asymmetrical tread pattern. The original-equipment product will be available as a replacement product.
Conti also unveiled a General Tire-branded product that merges two lines into one.
The G-Max AS 07 is an all-season ultra-high performance product for muscle cars, sports cars, passenger cars, light trucks, CUVs and SUVS. It replaces the G-Max AS 05 and the Grabber UHP.
The new product will come in 77 sizes and will feature a 50,000-mile limited treadwear warranty.
The G-Max AS 07 comes with the replacement tire monitor and visual alignment indicators. Conti said the tire provides up to 10 percent better wet braking, up to 17 percent better snow traction and up to 9 percent better ice traction that its predecessors.
Conti is continuing its relationship with college basketball, where it sponsorship deals with 33 men's programs, including three that made the men's Final Four: national champion University of Connecticut, Purdue University and Alabama University.
It also sponsored several pre-season tournaments as well as the Big 10 and Big 12 league tournaments.
Conti will continue to be the official tire of Major League Soccer and all 29 MLS teams. The U.S.-based professional soccer league has plans to add San Diego in 2025 and possibly two more franchises in coming years.
The tire maker, with signs exclusively promoting their products at every MLS stadium, sponsors the fan's selection of the best 11 in the league, as well as the match of the day.
General Tire, meanwhile, sponsors several Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) races, including upcoming races at tracks in Talledega, Ala.; Dover, Del.; Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Sonoma, Calif. The brand also is continuing its sponsorship of Major League Fishing, a professional circuit.
Charity said partnerships with dealers are driven by the three Cs: commitment, communication, collaboration.
"It takes communication on both sides," Charity said. "We appreciate all the feedback that we're getting. And we try to take that into our into our house and use it to make decisions. Collaborations are really working a lot with our customers and then commitment on both sides of the table."
Charity and Roffler said they encouraged dealers to take on or expand the Conti credit card program. Consumers, they said, can stack rebate promotions on top of credit card bonuses when purchasing new tires. Either General or Conti will be offering rebate promotions each month until December.
Tire dealers who participate in the Conti credit card program outperform dealers who aren't participating by 70 percent during the stacked rebate promotion, according to Conti.
Conti's 20th Gold Trip will take place May 5-11, 2025, in Cap Cana, Dominican Republic.
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