What started life as an innovative product idea in 1928 developed over the subsequent decades into a success story. Market innovations, such as the T2 and T4 tractor tyres in the 1920s and 1930s, and the AS farmer tire in 1955, are what characterize the company’s tradition. The company is now continuing this established tradition with its new premium radial tires with flexible N.flex carcass, new d.fine cleat technology and special bead design.
“Over the last ninety years, we have repeatedly proven how agriculture customers all over the world can rely on Continental as a partner to provide innovative and efficient solutions,” says Enno Straten, Head of Commercial Specialty Tyres (CST) at Continental. “Mega-trends such as digitization, connectivity and automation are significantly changing the face of the agricultural sector and the everyday work of farmers, and the productivity of agricultural machinery, including suitable tyres, plays a key role in this. For this reason, we will continue our work to develop and expand our portfolio of agricultural tire in the future.”
The story of Continental’s agricultural tyres begins in 1928, when the company launched Europe’s first pneumatic agricultural tyre onto the market in the form of the T2 agricultural tractor tyre (AS). It was only four years later when the next development, the T3 AS tyre, was impressing customers with its optimized tread and improved tractive force.
Continental revolutionized the market once again in 1938: as Germany’s first tyre manufacturer, the company decided not to link individual tread lugs in its new T4 AS tyre. Since then, the tread lugs in agricultural tractor tyres have been separated in the tread centre, which created a higher tractive force.
What is more, minimal slip ensured effective interlocking with the soil, rendering chains and grippers redundant. Finally, in 1955, an especially robust and high-grip tyre arrived on the market in the form of the Continental Farmer (AS). Thanks to a new ribbing with tapered, reinforced cleats, widening of the lug tread and improved self-cleaning properties, the Farmer tyre demonstrated a 20 percent increase in traction on virtually all soils compared with previous models
