Continental Tire was named a GM Supplier of the Year by General Motors during the automaker’s 24th annual Supplier of the Year award ceremony held March 10 at the Cobo Center in Detroit.

GM recognized 110 of its best suppliers from 17 countries that have consistently exceeded the company’s expectations, created outstanding value or brought new innovations to the company. This year’s award ceremony featured the most suppliers GM has recognized since debuting the Supplier of the Year event in 1992. This is the first time Continental Tire has received the award.

“We are focused on building positive supplier relationships, bringing new, customer-centric innovations to GM, and being the OEM of choice among suppliers,” said Steve Kiefer, GM vice president, global purchasing and supply chain. “The companies we recognize tonight not only have brought innovation, they delivered it with the quality our customers deserve.”

GM’s 2015 supplier recognition represents a nearly 40 percent increase in the number of suppliers honored compared to 79 recipients in 2014. More than half of the suppliers are repeat winners from 2014.

Winning suppliers were chosen by a global team of GM purchasing, engineering, quality, manufacturing and logistics executives and were selected based on performance criteria in product purchasing, indirect purchasing, customer care and aftersales and logistics.

“We are extremely proud and honored to receive this award. It is an excellent reflection of our partnership with GM,” said Enno Straten, vice president, key account management for the business unit Original Equipment PLT for Continental Tire. “Our team has been persistently working to provide the highest-quality tires with innovative features to complement GM’s great products. And today we are even more motivated to shift our efforts to the next level being able to tackle all upcoming challenges of the automotive industry together with GM.”