Continental gets future-ready with new management and organisational structure

With effect from January 1, 2022, global technology major Continental will comprehensively realign the Automotive Technologies group sector (future name: Automotive). The technology company will create five dynamic, flexible business areas with structures geared to the strategic action fields and market development of Automotive.

Nikolai Setzer will continue to be responsible for this group sector on the Executive Board, in addition to his function as CEO of Continental. This means a complete realignment of the current business areas Vehicle Networking and Information as well as Autonomous Mobility and Safety. When the new Automotive structure comes into effect, Helmut Matschi (58) and Frank Jourdan (61) will step down from the Executive Board earlier than planned (both appointed until March 2024).

With effect from January 1, 2022, the Automotive group sector will thus consist of the following business areas:

- Safety and Motion, headed by Matthias Matic –
- Autonomous Mobility, headed by Frank Petznick
- Smart Mobility, headed by Ismail Dagli
- User Experience, headed by Philipp von Hirschheydt
- Architecture and Networking, headed by Jean-François Tarabbia

Safety and Motion as well as Autonomous Mobility will combine the business for advanced driver assistance systems and for automated driving with the business activities related to safety electronics, sensors, as well as brake and chassis systems. Safety and Motion will be headed by Matthias Matic, who is currently responsible for the Vehicle Dynamics business unit and previously managed the Hydraulic Brakes business unit for six years. As already decided in March 2021, Frank Petznick will be responsible for the Autonomous Mobility business area.

The Architecture and Networking business area will consolidate activities related to connectivity technologies, vehicle electronics and high-performance computers. The User Experience business area will combine the business for display and operating technologies, as well as sound solutions. The Smart Mobility business area will pool the business for mobility services, fleet operators and commercial vehicle manufacturers.

Architecture and Networking will be headed by Jean-François Tarabbia, who has been in charge of the Connected Car Networking business unit since January 2021 and has more than 20 years of experience in various management positions in the automotive industry.

The User Experience business area will be headed by Philipp von Hirschheydt, who will move within the company from the Tires business area to Automotive. Hirschheydt has many years of international experience in the automotive and tires areas as well as at the corporate level. At present, he is responsible for the Tires Replacement business for the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, Africa).

The Smart Mobility business area will have a new manager, Ismail Dagli, who will replace Gilles Mabire on January 1, 2022. Dagli is currently in charge of the research and development of the business unit for advanced driver assistance systems within Continental.

As part of the realignment of Automotive Technologies, the overarching advanced engineering organization he[a]t (Holistic Engineering and Technologies) under the leadership of future chief technology officer (CTO) Gilles Mabire will be strengthened from January 1, 2022. This will focus on the sixth strategic action field, namely Software and Systems Excellence. In the he[at] organization, Automotive will combine advanced engineering activities and cross-domain highperformance computer projects, drawing on the experience and expertise of Elektrobit (including Argus) and Continental Engineering Services. Additionally, the CTO organization will incorporate the central development of the former Vehicle Networking and Information business area, as well as the organizational units Key Projects and Product Transformation.

Realignment to ensure comprehensive responsibility
The realignment will enable the central functions to be assigned direct, comprehensive responsibility at the Automotive level. In addition to functions such as Finance and Controlling (Katja Dürrfeld), Human Relations (Christian Terres), Sales (Thomas Eller), Quality (Nino Romano), Strategy (NN) and Communications (Nicole Orgnon), this also applies to operational business functions such as Purchasing, IT, Supply Chain Management, Sustainability and Manufacturing.

At the beginning of the year, these operational business functions will be newly consolidated under Operations, led by Christoph Hagedorn. Among other things, this will address the strategic implications of the changes in connected supply chains. Christoph Hagedorn has been responsible for group quality and environment since 2016 and also took over the management of the Continental Business System, Continental’s lean management approach. Another new appointment at Automotive is Katja Dürrfeld, who is changing positions within the company. She is currently the head of Finance, Controlling and IT in the ContiTech group sector.