Continental, after outlining the company’s history and global reach, presented what it calls “megatrends” – major directions in economic, political, and society forces – affecting the auto industry.
More importantly, these megatrends offer insight into the OEMs’ plans since they direct, via orders and sales, Continental’s current and future product development lineup.
Continental highlighted four megatrends: Affordability, Environment, Information, and Safety.
Continental’s Chassis & Safety division, as the name implies, focuses on automotive safety. (There are six divisions within Continental, with the company’s well-know tire brand comprising two of them.) Government regulations, both in the U.S. and across the pond, drive the Safety megatrend. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that blind spot detection/warning and emergency brake assist systems could prevent up to 457,000 and 417 accidents per year while lane departure warning/ preventive systems could prevent or at least minimize up to 483,000 crashes yearly, over 40 percent of which are fatal. The division, though, found developing for the U.S. market an interesting challenge due to a peculiar American mindset: bigger cars, to Americans, means safety but smaller vehicles mean better fuel economy.
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