2016 Formula 1 World Champion and sustainability entrepreneur Nico Rosberg has signed on as a new Brand Ambassador for international tire manufacturer Continental.
“Nico Rosberg and Continental make a perfect fit,” said Philipp von Hirschheydt, head of Business Unit Replacement Tires EMEA. “Nico Rosberg has achieved massive success in motorsport, personifies elite-level driving performance at the limit and displays a multi-faceted commitment to environmental protection. Meanwhile, Continental – as a leading developer and manufacturer of premium tires – is a standard-bearer for maximum safety and top performance in all driving situations. At the same time, we are pursuing a particularly rigorous sustainability strategy. As well as leading the way in the development of environmentally compatible technology solutions, we have also set ourselves extremely exacting goals when it comes to carbon-neutral and sustainable business practices throughout the value chain.”
A good example of how well the two partners go together came on the first weekend of April this year in the desert of Saudi Arabia: In the inaugural event of the new Extreme race series, the Rosberg Xtreme Racing team emerged victorious – on tires supplied by Continental, one of the main sponsors of Extreme E.
“I am very proud to work with partners who put sustainability, technology and safety at the heart of what they do,” said Rosberg. “Just like me, Continental is strongly committed to enabling sustainable mobility. Development and innovation in the tire sector are elementary to this. I see these shared values as the basis of our collaboration, and I’m very much looking forward to working together.”
The Extreme E off-road race series is contested at particularly remote locations around the world in specially developed electric cars. With its focus on sustainability, Extreme E was also explicitly conceived to draw attention to the effects of climate change and to combat them by promoting climate protection projects on site. Nico Rosberg, with his newly launched racing team Rosberg X Racing, and Continental, as one of the main sponsors of the series and developer of the off-road tires used by all the teams, are among those backing Extreme E.
Having retired as an active racer, Rosberg has since turned his attention to climate action. For example, he is pushing for the transition to sustainable mobility solutions and environment-friendly technologies.
With his investor’s hat on, Rosberg supports a wide range of sustainable startups that develop and supply innovative products and services. He has received several awards for his commitment, including the European Cultural Award for environmental and climate protection. For the past years, Rosberg also used the World Economic Forum in Davos as a platform to make the case for alternative mobility solutions.
Rosberg’s involvement in Extreme E highlights how seriously he is personally taking the idea of sustainable motorsport – as founder and CEO of the Rosberg X Racing team set up specially for the new race series.
“Extreme E is taking place in locations where the consequences of climate change are already clear to see,” adds Rosberg. “The series has teamed up with many different international and local partners to take action to mitigate the situation. We are giving this important issue a prominent platform – and at the same time stoking enthusiasm for electric mobility and eco-friendly innovation.”
This kind of commitment to concrete measures that promote sustainable mobility is another aspect that unites Nico Rosberg and Continental in their new partnership. For its part, Continental is channeling significant investment into research and development work aimed at making production of all its tires fully carbon-neutral by 2040 at the latest. The company’s Tires business area is already an industry leader in the efficient use of resources and is aiming to cut water and energy use in its production activities by an additional 20 percent by 2030.
