Continental CEO Dr. Elmar Degenhart at company’s 2020 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, which was held virtually in Hanover on 14th July 2020, talked about the future growth areas for the company. According to him, Continental is concentrating on three areas of technology: digitalization; assisted and automated driving, with autonomous driving based on this concept; and emission-free drive systems. Continental will be decisively continuing the restructuring of the company initiated in 2019 and will be adjusting its financial structure to the decrease in global vehicle production. Below are the highlights from his address at the meet.
Growth with software also as safety and clean drive systems
Continental is harnessing digitalization and software to drive its financial and sustainable growth. Backed by high-performance computers – the digital heart of vehicles – Continental already generates sales exceeding €3 billion.
Digitalization is equally decisive for new mobility-related services. “We’re ensuring most of our products are smart, and we’re digitalizing tires and air-spring systems,” said Degenhart. The plan is to triple sales by 2030.
A second growth area for Continental is the business with systems for assisted and automated driving. Continental currently sells around 350 million sensors annually within the area of passive safety. With reference to the brakes business, Degenhart projected that just shy of 40 million highly integrated braking systems are going to be produced by the company by 2023.
The third growth area for Continental is technologies for clean vehicle drive systems. “The ‘e’ in e-mobility does not stand only for ‘electric.’ It also stands for ‘emission-free.’ Whether with batteries or fuel cells, e-mobility may be a real growth market. It, therefore, offers huge potential for Vitesco Technologies,” explained Degenhart. Continental is expecting the market to grow by approximately 30 percent annually within the next five years.
