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IAA REVIEW
Continental Drives the Future at IAA
Westlake Launch New Truck Tyre Line
Chinese tyre manufacturer Zhongce Rubber presented its new range of Westlake branded truck and bus tyres during the IAA in Hanover. The tyres were presented on the stand of the company’s German distributor, Pneuhage/Interpneu, who agreed a strategic development partnership with Zhongce in 2012 in order to bring a new competitive truck tyre product line to the European Market. Casing quality and usability for retreading, optical appearance, tire profile designs and tire label values had been some of the criteria which had been especially designed for the new tyre line. “Our aim is that our customers in wholesale and retail business can fully trust and rely on the quality of the products”, explains Erwin Schwab, General Manager Truck Tires of the Pneuhage Group.
In the UK the Westlake range is distributed by Vacu-Lug Tyres in conjunction with Zenises.
The range on show in Germany included several new patterns scheduled for launch
in the UK market.
WTL1 is a new wide based trailer tyre designed for long haul applications. The tyre features a 5-rib tread designed for improved mileage performance and a special low-rolling-resistance tread compound.
WSR1 is the latest steer axle fitment for long haul and regional application. Again, this pattern features an advanced 5-rib design but also incorporates specially designed tread pitches for low external noise and tread sipes with straight tread grooves for excellent water drainage and improved traction
WDM1 is Westlake’s new drive tyre for long haul and regional use. The tyre features a deep tread for long life and a directional tread pattern with robust tread blocks for exceptional traction on both wet and dry surfaces. The WDM 1 also incorporates a special shoulder design with a low-heating compound, which minimizes shoulder heel and toe wear.
"Driving the Future" – the motto of the world's biggest commercial vehicle show, the IAA in Hanover, perfectly matches the new products launched by Continental at the show this year under its own IAA-motto "The Future in Motion”. The German manufacturer was presenting its products and solutions in Hall 17 and aiming to set new benchmarks in the premium tyre segment, responding to tougher requirements and specifically targeting different areas of application with its new truck tyre families.
The new Conti Hybrid is aimed to be the ideal response to the growing changes seen in regional freight transportation. This all- rounder meets a wide variety of day-to-day challenges faced by distributors and fleets in regional transportation. This includes frequent acceleration, braking, maneuvering, and cornering on a range of road surfaces. The Continental developers have redesigned the tire treads and rubber compound. The result is high mileage combined with excellent wet driving and braking behavior and low rolling resistance. The new Conti Hybrid is therefore proving its credentials as a universally suitable all-rounder in the premium segment in sizes 17.5", 19.5", and 22.5".
The entire Conti Hybrid tyre line for heavy trucks was on show for the first time at the IAA in size 22.5". In addition to the Conti Hybrid HS3 steering-axle tyres – recently launched onto the market – the Conti Hybrid HD3 drive-axle tyre and the Conti Hybrid HT3 for trailers and semitrailers were also presented. They are set for market launch in 2015.
In addition to the Conti Hybrid, Continental presented the new
high-tech tyre generation Conti EcoPlus at IAA. These new high- performance tyres are specifically targeted at modern truck combinations, reduce fuel consumption by up to 1.9 l over 100 kilometres for an equally high mileage, thereby making a substantial contribution to achieving lowest overall driving cost.
Continental is also underlining its role as a leading systems supplier with the ContiPressureCheck system for constantly monitoring tyre pressure. ContiPressureCheck works with combined pressure and temperature sensors inside the tyres, with discrepancies represented on a display for the driver. One of Continental's new innovations at the IAA was the Automatic Trailer Learning function (ATL), a smart coupling of the self- learning ContiPressureCheck- System for use with various trailers. When a different semitrailer is attached, the system can automatically detect the sensor data from the semitrailer tyres. ContiPressureCheck effectively prevents over-consumption of fuel and damage to the tyres as a result of air pressure being too low. The smart monitoring system pays for itself within a short operating time. Meanwhile, the premium offer of retreaded tyres from the ContiLifeCycle plant in Stöcken, Germany helps to preserve resources and optimise total operating costs. The modern hot- retreading processes prepare high- quality casings for their second life on a truck. Customers can choose between hot-retreaded tyres from the ContiRe brand – now also including the first tyres from generation 3 – and a comprehensive range of ContiTread tread patterns for cold retreading.
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