Continental has appointed Nikolai Setzer as new executive board chairman until March 2024, effective December 1, 2020. He succeeds Dr Elmar Degenhart, who is stepping down from his position for health reasons.
“Continental is in the process of transforming into a technology and software company that, together with vehicle manufacturers, is laying the foundation for the sustainable mobility of the future. Nikolai Setzer has our utmost trust and confidence. The supervisory board is certain that he will push forward with and successfully shape this transformation,” explained Prof. Wolfgang Reitzle, chairman of Continental’s supervisory board.
“Key factors here are his deep, long-standing bond with Continental and its company values as well as his extensive international experience in the automotive and tire business.
“At the same time, we express our sincere thanks to Degenhart for his outstanding performance, his exemplary leadership and his considerable contribution to Continental’s success over the years. We wish him all the best for the future, especially regarding his health.”
Remarking on his appointment, Setzer said, “Continental has been a strong values alliance for top value creation for nearly 150 years. In view of the profound transformation in the automotive industry, Elmar Degenhart and our entire executive board team set the necessary strategic course early on in order to enhance Continental’s competitiveness and viability. Therefore my most urgent task, together with executives and employees worldwide, is to pursue our ongoing growth course as a technology company without interruption and to lead Continental into a new era of mobility, backed by profitable growth.”
Setzer has worked at Continental since finishing his studies in engineering management in Germany and France in 1997. In his 23-year career at the company to date, he has held various positions in development and sales in Germany and abroad, assuming the position of head of the Hanover-based passenger car tire business in March 2009. He has been a member of the executive board of Continental AG since August 2009. He assumed responsibility for the Tires business area – which was formed from the passenger car and commercial vehicle tire businesses – in August 2011 and for Corporate Purchasing in May 2015.
In April 2019, Setzer switched to Continental’s Automotive Group, where he assumed the newly created position of spokesman of the automotive board and was thus responsible for maintaining a unified business strategy in this area. He will continue in this position. The number of executive board members at Continental will decrease from nine to eight on December 1, 2020.
