It has been 90 years since Continental launched its first pneumatic tractor tire. Products such as the T2 and T4 tractor tires, introduced in the 1920s and 1930s, and the AS farmer tire in 1955, characterize the company’s portfolio. Continental continues to offer premium radial tires with a flexible N.flex carcass, new d.fine lug technology and special bead design.
“Over the last 90 years, we have repeatedly proven how agriculture customers all over the world can rely on Continental as a partner to provide innovative and efficient solutions,” said Enno Straten, head of commercial specialty tires (CST) at Continental.
“Mega-trends such as digitization, connectivity and automation are significantly changing the face of the agricultural sector and the everyday work of farmers, and the productivity of agricultural machinery, including tires, plays a key role in this. For this reason, we will continue to develop and expand our portfolio of agricultural tires.”
In 1938 Conti introduced a revolutionary innovation, it decided not to link individual tread lugs in its new T4 AS tire. Since then, the tread lugs in agricultural tractor tires have been separated in the center of the tread, which creates a higher tractive force.
Minimal slip ensures effective interlocking with the soil, rendering chains and grippers redundant. In 1955, an especially robust and high-grip tire arrived on the market in the form of the Continental Farmer (AS). Thanks to a new ribbing with tapered, reinforced cleats, widening of the lug tread and improved self-cleaning properties, the Farmer tire demonstrated a 20% increase in traction on virtually all soils compared with previous models.
Toward the end of the 20th century the company considerably expanded in North America and Europe. In 2004 the agricultural tire segment was sold off. In the course of this sale, the license for production and marketing agricultural tires under the Continental brand passed to CGS/Mitas. The development and sale of products and solutions from the Continental Automotive segment continued unaffected, and customer demand for Continental’s agricultural tires continued to increase.
In 2016, Continental reacquired its brand rights ahead of schedule, and returned to the agricultural tire market in 2017 with the Tractor70 and Tractor85 premium radial tires. The company plans to continue expanding its portfolio and will offer a total of 100 sizes by 2019.
