Mainland Appoints China's New President to Be First Board of Directors for Business in China

On May 17, 2013, Continental AG announced that, in view of the continued growth of the Chinese market, Executive Board Member Ralf Cramer will assume the position of President of the China organization from August 1 this year.

Ralf Cramer, 47, currently holds the post of head of the chassis and safety systems division of the Continental Group. The German "European Automotive Weekly" pointed out that this seat of the board of directors was the first time that the Continental Group had been established for the Chinese business. The mainland has become another German company after Volkswagen and Daimler who has a seat for the Chinese business.

Cramer has been a member of the Continental Group Executive Board since August 2009. Since December 2007, Cramer has taken over the Continental Group's Chassis and Safety Systems Department. Its successors will be confirmed and announced soon.

Continental Group CEO Elmar Degenhart said that the company plans to increase its share of the Asian market from the current 18% to more than 30%, mainly driven by the Chinese business.

In 2012, the mainland’s sales in China was approximately 2.7 billion euros, which accounted for nearly 8% of its total sales of 32.7 billion euros.