Continental to Make Powertrain Division Separate Legal Entity

Leading German automotive parts manufacturer and supplier Continental is carrying out a restructuring exercise as part of which it will make its powertrain business a separate legal entity.

The entire company will have three divisions after the restructuring and the powertrain division will exist as a separate entity from next year. The automotive and rubber companies will be the other two divisions.

Commenting on the move, Continental CEO Elmar Degenhart said that it was Continental’s proven readiness and capacity to change that made the company a winner. The realignment is meant to make Continental highly flexible and agile. The move is meant to make Continental grow as a company so that it can tackle future challenges and stay competitive, both now as well as in the future.

The Chassis & Safety division will be renamed as Autonomous Driving Technologies while the Interior division will be transformed into the Vehicle Networking Technologies division. Both of them will be part of Continental Automotive and will be supported by a new central Automotive Research and Development function. Continental expects the new automotive business to increase its sales from 19 billion euros in 2017 to approximately 30 billion euros in 2023.The integration of these two divisions into the automotive entity is meant to maximize R&D productivity and achieve smooth, speedy product launch, which is crucial for the divisions relevant under the automotive group.

The Powertrain division will turn into an independent company having a new name in 2019. This business unit will comprise all future businesses which deal with design, development and production of hybrid and electric drive systems and all the battery activities including the joint venture the company had recently announced with CITC for 48-volt battery systems, as well as combustion engine business.

Continental Rubber Group will comprise Tire Technologies and ContiTech divisions. These two divisions will continue to specialize in the development of technology based rubber and plastic products. This division will continue to be owned by Continental.