Two Investments Accelerate Continental's Growth in China

Continental, one of the leading international automotive suppliers, is continuously expanding its activities in China. The Germany based Corporation announced today two important milestones that will accelerate its growth in China: the opening of additional 10,000 square meters of floor space in the Jiading Industrial Zone at an investment of 120 million RMB, approx. €13.3 million, and a second plant in Wuhu with an initial investment of 297 million RMB, approx. €33 million, for land and building. The overall investment not only marks Continental's confidence in the development prospects in China, but it also underlines its strong commitment to the Chinese market.

As part of the long-term plan in the Chinese market, Continental opened the Jiading plant in 2010, manufacturing products for Continental's three automotive divisions - Chassis & Safety, Powertrain, and Interior. In collaboration with its partner, Jiading Industrial Zone, Continental has invested RMB 120 million, approx. €13.3 million, for phase II. In the new facility, where products from Interior division will be produced, the annual production capacity will ramp up to 3.5 million door control units (DCU) and power window lifter electronics, 4.5 million printed circuit board assemblies (PCBA) for instrument clusters, faceplates and climate control units. This second phase, which now starts operation, has the aim of improving operational efficiency and maximizing productivity of the entire Jiading plant in order to support the increasing demand from the local and global market. The current facility will extend its production capacity and capabilities relative to Chassis & Safety products in order to prepare itself for becoming the largest producing plant in terms of volume for Chassis & Safety Electronic Brake Systems (MK100 generation of ABS and ESC) worldwide.

Dr. Ralf Cramer, President of Chassis & Safety Division of Continental and Member of the Executive Board said: "We are devoted to making 'Safety for Everyone' a reality by constantly developing and applying innovative components and advanced system solutions for driving safety. The opening of the new cutting-edge facility in our Jiading plant will also further enhance Chassis & Safety division's production capacity there and better support us in terms of providing local and global vehicle manufacturers with cost-effective, advanced and tailored technology solutions in order to achieve our division's worldwide sales target of 33 percent in Asia by 2015."

New Plant in Wuhu to Deliver Solutions for Intelligent Vehicles The second announcement of Continental today refers to the "Cooperation Relationship Agreement" signed between the People's Government of Wuhu Municipality and Continental. With an initial investment of 297 million RMB, approx. €33 million, for land and building, Continental will establish a wholly owned enterprise in the Wuhu Economics and Technology Development Area. The new plant is estimated to cover a land area of 120,000 square meters. As one of the five divisions of Continental, Interior division is one of the market and technology leaders in information management for vehicles. The products developed and manufactured by Interior division make the networked vehicle of the future more user-friendly, more comfortable, and more intelligent. The new Interior plant focuses on the business of instrumentation and driver HMI (Human-Machine Interface).

Mr. Helmut Matschi, President of Interior Division of Continental and Member of the Executive Board stated: "With advanced technology, superb quality and localized R&D solutions, we offer integrated solutions to simplify and optimize the management of interior information to make future driving more comfortable and enjoyable, as well as to meet the increasing interest and demand for intelligent vehicles in China, in Asia and globally. The Jiading plant II and the new Wuhu plant will play an important role in contributing to the development of the Interior business in China."

Established in China since 1994, Continental is one of the leading automotive suppliers with 18 manufacturing locations, 8 R&D centers and approx. 16,000 employees in this growing market. Recently, the company has accelerated its presence in different regions of China, including the construction of its Changchun Plant II in October 2011, the opening of the R&D center in Nanjing for the Instrumentation and Driver HMI business unit in November 2011, the expansion of Wuhu plant in December 2011, and the opening of the Heihe Winter Test Center in February 2012.