Strong Interest in Sustainable Tires

Sustainable mobility is becoming increasingly important to many people, with tires made from renewable and recycled materials playing a key role. Thanks to our high level of material expertise, we are one of the pioneers when it comes to sustainable tires.  

Around the globe, many motorists are looking for sustainable mobility – despite their concerns about its general affordability due to rising energy prices. Continental’s latest mobility study even reveals that car owners would be prepared to pay more for tires containing a higher proportion of renewable and recycled materials. This is particularly the case in China (74 percent) and the United States (59 percent), where this willingness has increased substantially in some cases since 2022 (+18 percent in China and +12 percent in the USA). In Germany and France, supporters and skeptics remain evenly split despite a gradual increase in acceptance.    

Across all countries, motorists who also value tire recycling consider it important their tires contain an increasing proportion of sustainable materials. While eight out of 10 motorists surveyed in Germany attach importance to this, nine out of 10 do so in China and the USA. A closer look at Germany also reveals that, when purchasing tires, younger people between the ages of 18 and 34 pay particular attention to what happens with their tires at the end of their service life. In the United States and China, this is a matter of growing concern among older generations as well. 

Continental tires are becoming more and more sustainable and at the same time more efficient in terms of raw materials and reuse after their first phase of use. A large share of the materials used in our car, truck and bus tires today are already in their second life. The multiple award-winning UltraContact NXT, for example, which has been in Continental’s portfolio since summer 2023, is the company’s most sustainable passenger-car tire to date. It contains up to 65 percent renewable and recycled materials such as polyester from recycled PET bottles, rubber from used tires and silica extracted from rice husk ash. At the 2024 IAA TRANSPORTATION trade fair, Continental also introduced its Conti Urban NXT seriesfor urban buses and delivery vehicles, which contains a similarly high proportion of renewable and recycled materials at 59 percent.