Continental is delivering the seventh generation of PremiumContact 7

Hanover, Germany – Safety in every situation: With the PremiumContact 7, Continental is delivering the seventh
generation of the successful premium tire, following several years of development. For the new summer tire, the
developers focused specifically on the most important customer requirement of maximum safety: “The new generation
is the flagship of our brand. Our objective was to develop the safest tire on the market, which offers our customers a
comfortable and carefree ride at all times – with the PremiumContact 7, we deliver peace of mind for the entire family,”
says Denise Sperl, director Research & Development Car Tires EMEA at Continental Tires.

Continental has improved the passenger car tire in all safety-relevant areas. The predecessor PremiumContact 6
achieved 34 test wins in renowned international trade magazines over its entire lifetime. “We are confident that we will
continue this success story with the PremiumContact 7,” says Denise Sperl. Three technologies have enabled significant
safety advances in the PremiumContact 7: A size-specific design, the innovative RedChili compound for the tread and anadaptive tread design.
Like the SportContact 7, the PremiumContact 7 is tailor-made for a wide range of vehicle concepts – according to
weight, size and drive system. Since heavy vehicles require different tire solutions than light passenger cars, the
specifications of the PremiumContact 7 have been adapted to each vehicle class. “We have had such good experiences
in terms of customized design with the SportContact 7 that we are again rolling out this technology for the
PremiumContact 7,” says Sperl. With the rise of electric vehicles with particularly long ranges and high performance, the
safety factor is ever gaining importance in this segment. In addition to improvements in rolling resistance and mileage,
the PremiumContact 7 provides high grip and low braking distances for vehicles of all drive types, thanks to its
customized designs.

Another new feature of the PremiumContact 7 is the innovative RedChili compound: The rubber compound for tires is
usually made up of natural rubber and synthetic components. Because each element requires a specific temperature to
achieve optimum performance, the grip of the tire can also be influenced via a targeted selection and composition of thematerials. With the new compound for the PremiumContact 7, Continental has succeeded in enabling optimum
performance across the broadest possible temperature range. This allows the tire to develop high grip even at low
temperatures in daily traffic – without any prior warm-up phase. Customers particularly benefit from this during the
transitional spring and fall months.

The adaptive tread design of the PremiumContact 7 ensures even greater stability and ride comfort on both wet and dryroads: Wide lateral openings in the outer areas of the tread pattern provide optimum drainage when driving straight
ahead because the ground contact surface ends precisely at the point with the widest opening. During cornering, the
ground contact surface shifts outward and the lateral openings close again, providing more rubber and better grip on
the road. “In this way, we have resolved the tradeoff between optimal water removal and perfect dry handling. The resultis excellent driving stability on wet surfaces, during braking, cornering and accelerating,” says Denise Sperl.
The new technologies have been tested both virtually in tread and tire simulations as well as in the lab, and of course on
test tracks in southern France, Germany, the Czech Republic and the US. The mileage of the PremiumContact 7 alone
was tested over a distance of 150,000 kilometers and permanently optimized. The developers were thus able to
increase this value by ten percent compared to the predecessor model. Wet handling has been improved by 5 percent,
wet braking by as much as 7 percent, and aquaplaning by 2 percent. The PremiumContact 7 now achieves an “A” wet
grip class rating on the EU tire label. Dry handling and braking were both improved by 3 percentage points.
The PremiumContact 7 is now available in selected sizes. These sizes will be greatly expanded over the course of the
year, so that by its end, many popular tire sizes between 16 and 21 inches will be available, with which vehicles such as
the Hyundai Kona Elektro, Audi A1 or VW Golf, among others, can be fitted.