Continental's R&D Facility

As a bold statement of its intention of expand aggressively, Continental has consolidated its operations into a new Research & Development Centre in Singapore.

Officially opened on July 28, the seven-story, 10,170 square metre facility houses Continental Automotive Group's ContiTech and Tire division in addition to the 650 employees from the Interior division alone. When the need arises, there will also be an option to add an additional eight floor, to accommodate a total of 1,000 employees.

The majority of operations within the new Continental Centre will centre around the brand's Interior department where technical research and product design is centred around developing Instrumentation and Driver HMI (Human Machine Interface), Infotainment & Connectivity, Body & Security as well as Commercial Vehicles & Aftermarket.

A Continental spokesperson also shared that many of of the new products designed and developed in Singapore will support other Continental facilities around the world.

According to Helmut Matschi, member of the executive board of Continental AG and president of the Interior Division, outlined the expansion plans, "For the Interior division we want to grow stronger in Asia [with] 19 percent sales that are generated in Asia which we aim to increase considerably in the next coming years. Our expansion plans in Singapore strongly support Continental's growth strategy of deeper engagement with its Asian automotive customers."

Mr Lo Kien Foh, managing director of Continental Automotive Singapore Pte Ltd also added that "the Singapore R&D centre will continue to grow aggressively in manpower as well as technical competence. With that, we look forward to continually increasing our added value to our customers."

Credits: JonathanTan