Eco-tour uses tires & navigation system made by Continental

Record-breaking driver Rainer Zietlow's natural gas eco-tour is supported by tires and a navigation system developed by Continental. In the course of Zietlow’s 80-day tour, he will visit each of Germany's 800 natural gas filling stations to promote environmentally-friendly natural gas as a fuel. The tour will also demonstrate Germany’s extensive network of natural gas filling stations. Zietlow chose Continental’s safe winter tires with their low rolling resistance and the VW RNS 510 navigation system developed by Continental’s Interior Division, which is equipped with NAVTEQ card information to show the best possible route.

Between January 7 and March 22, Zietlow will be visiting Germany’s 800 natural gas filling stations in his natural gas-fueled VW Passat 1.4 TSI EcoFuel to show that environmental protection and inexpensive travel are not mutually exclusive concepts: on average he hopes his fuel consumption to cost ?4.35 per 100 km. To achieve this target, he chose to rely on tires from the ContiWinterContactContact range, whose rolling resistance is almost as low as that of summer tires. Continental’s navigation system will help to further reduce fuel consumption. The VW RNS 510 radio navigation system developed by Continental and which can be fitted in the factory, simply calculates the shortest distances between each gas filling station and therefore shortens the distances traveled. The 20,000 km trip started on January 7 in Irschenberg, Bavaria. Zietlow is aiming to cross the finish line in Westerland Sylt on March 22.

With targeted annual sales of ?25 billion for 2008, the Continental Corporation is one of the top automotive suppliers worldwide. As a supplier of tires, brake systems, systems and components for the powertrain and chassis, instrumentation, infotainment solutions, vehicle electronics and technical elastomers, the corporation contributes towards enhanced driving safety and protection of the global climate. Furthermore, Continental is an expert partner for networked automobile communication. Today, the corporation employs approximately 146,500 at nearly 200 locations in 36 countries. For further details, visit conti-online.com.

A quarter of all tires in Europe are manufactured by Continental, the market leader. More than 30 percent of all new European cars leave the factory fitted with Continental tires. The tire divisions are an official sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup? in South Africa. For further details, please go to www.ContiSoccerWorld.com

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