The original Continental brand tires that were originally intended to be "manufactured first and then made domestically" were cancelled by the "Kumho Gate" incident.

Recently, the first plant of the Continental Group German brand Tire China officially opened in Hefei, Anhui Province. Nikolar Setzer, president of Cars and Light Trucks, an executive director of Continental Group, told reporters that after the official opening of the Hefei factory, the Malaysian brand will adopt two-step import and domestic methods in the Chinese market, and it has no plans to find other manufacturers.

The “CCC Product Certification Public Service Platform” of the National Certification and Accreditation Regulatory Commission’s official website had previously revealed that four of the 3C certifications for Horse Brand Tire Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Malaysian Tires”) had been suspended. The 3C certification is the Meridian 55 series, 60 series, 65 series and 70 series, involving a total of 14 models.

It is clearly stated in the record of the 4 suspended horse tires 3C certification that the company is a manufacturer and the production plant is Kumho Tire (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Kumho Tianjin Factory”).

"In fact, we have not only talked with Kumho, but have also been in contact with other tire companies," Nikolar Setzer told reporters that at the time with Kumho only the two sides negotiated and contacted, and did not sign any substantial OEM program. The tyres previously sold by the company's tyres were all imported from Malaysia.

The reporter learned from informed sources that in fact Kumho Tire and Ma Tire Tire had an intention of cooperation. The two sides agreed that the company will directly produce horse brand tires through the Jinhu Tianjin plant, but what brand is not confirmed. However, the cooperation between the horse brand and Kumho was only in the process of discussion, and no cooperation contract for procurement and supply was concluded. Afterwards, the horse brand expects the company's production capacity at the Anhui base to increase substantially, plus the Kumho plant. Exposed to the excessive amount of back-mixed rubber, the OEM program has stopped.

Although the two parties did not reach a cooperation, Kumho still applied for 4 3C certificates for the horse tyres. A number of tire industry insiders said that if a tire company wants to commission other companies to produce, it can first get the sample directly to the 3C certification unit for certification, and does not need to produce a large number of spot products, so the applicant will appear "Lake" and the manufacturer's "3C certification" for "Tennis Tire".

The horse brand's retail network expansion in China is much faster than its production deployment. In December 2007, 100 stores opened and 1,400 retail stores were opened in May of this year. A new store is opened almost every day.

A tire industry insider said that if the horse brand's future production capacity in Anhui base is not enough, and continue to follow the agreement reached with the Kumho Tianjin plant, then there may be the case that the quality of the brand tires can not be guaranteed.

However, for this statement, Mortimer Von Tachirschky, general manager of Continental Horse Tire (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., explicitly told the reporter that the horse brand will no longer be in the form of OEM.

Horse Brand Tire is a high-end brand under the Continental Group's passenger car and light truck tire divisions. However, due to the late start in the Chinese market, major tire companies have occupied market share in their respective fields. The major tire giants dominated by Hankook, Kumho and Zhengxin occupy the low-end market, with Michelin. The three big companies led by Bridgestone and Goodyear are tied for the “first camp” of tire companies.

In the first few years of entering China, the horse brand has been regarded as the same kind of tire brand as Cooper and Pirelli. In a tire industry report in March 2010, the horse brand and Yokohama, Margits, and Warrior were included in the third category of the Chinese market.

Horse tires eager to expand scale through real estate, as early as in 2007, launched a domestic plan, when the brand tires in Hefei, the company laid the foundation stone. However, with the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008, the mainland group temporarily suspended investment in order to optimize the fund structure, resulting in the Hefei plant, which had been built half of the time, to a standstill. It was not until the market recovered in 2009 that the plant could be built further.

The reporter learned that the Hefei plant will launch the first batch of domestically produced tires to the Chinese market in the near future, mainly including comfortable high-end car wheels and a new generation of silent wheels built specifically for the Chinese market, while other products are still directly imported from Malaysia.