October 8, 1871 Continental-Caoutchouc- und Gutta-Percha Compagnie is founded in Hanover as a joint stock company. Manufacturing at the main factory in Vahrenwalder Street includes soft rubber products, rubberized fabrics, solid tires for carriages and bicycles.

1882 The rampant horse is adopted as trademark

1892 Continental is the first German company to manufacture pneumatic tires for bicycles.

1898 Production of automobile pneumatic tires without tread pattern starts in Hanover-Vahrenwald.

1901 The first Daimler-produced car to be called Mercedes achieves a sensational victory on Continental pneumatics in the Nice-Salon-Nice car race.

1904 Continental presents the world's first automobile tire with a patterned tread.

1905 Continental produces riveted anti-skid tires, a forerunner of steel-studded tires.

1908 Continental invents the detachable rim for sedans - a remarkable innovation to help save time and effort when changing a tire.

1909 Specimens of synthetic rubber developed at the Bayer laboratories are successfully vulcanized at Continental and processed to make the first test tires. Louis Bleriot, the pioneer aviator, writes history with the first flight across the English Channel. Continental Aeroplan material covers the fuselage and wings of his plane

1914 Triple victory for Daimlers fitted with Continental tires at the French Grand Prix

1921 The company's 50th anniversary sees Continental as the first German company to bring cord tire onto the market. The stiff linen square-woven fabric is thus replaced by the more pliable cord fiber fabric. The first giant pneumatic tires are made by Continental and replace the solid tires used until that time on commercial vehicles

1926 Carbon black is used as a reinforcing filter to give the tire more resistance to wear and ageing, as well as its characteristic color

1936 Synthetic rubber is introduced into the tire manufacturing process

1943 Patent application filed for tubeless tires

1952 Continental adds M+S tires for winter driving to its range of conventional tires

1951-55 In close collaboration with Daimler-Benz and Porsche, Continental repeats its pre-war successes on the track. Racing in cars fitted with Continental tires, drivers like Karl Kling, Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio win the 1952 Carrera Panamericana and the French, British, Dutch and Italian Grand Prix

1955 At the beginning of the year Continental is the first German company to start manufacturing tubeless tires. Continental is also the first company to develop air springs for trucks and buses

1960 Mass production of radial tires begins

1972 Continental launches the studless ContiContact winter tire

1979 Takeover of the European tire operations of Uniroyal, Inc., USA, gives Continental a wider base in Europe

1985 Takeover of the tire operations of the Austrian company Semperit

1987 Acquisition of the North American tire manufacturer General Tire, Inc. The company has been operating under the name of Continental Tire North America, Inc., since 2001

1991 The industrial products operations are reorganzied under the ContiTech umbrella brand. With its ContiEcoContact tire, Continental is the first manufacturer to launch an environment-friendly passenger tire

2002 Continental and Bridgestone join forces in the developement of run-flat tires. The aim is to create a worldwide standard for run-flat systems installed on conventional rims

2003 Unveiling the ContiSportContact 2 Vmax, the world's first road tire approved for speeds up to 360 km/h (224 mph)