New brand, proven quality – VDO to become Continental in the passenger car aftermarket
- Website, catalog, packaging, workshop concepts – brand identity is being completely redesigned
- In this way, Continental is underscoring its original equipment competence
- The brand change only affects car spare parts and service equipment
- VDO will remain the brand for tachographs and fleet management solutions
Schwalbach, Germany, November 2020. The technology company Continental is completely converting its VDO product brand to Continental in the passenger car aftermarket. With this step, the Continental brand will gain even more stature in the passenger car spare parts range of the automotive supplier and tire manufacturer. “Our customers know that Continental is a strong partner for comprehensive technological expertise in driver assistance systems, efficient connectivity, a uniquely broad product portfolio and the high quality standards of one of the world’s largest original equipment manufacturers – and it’s this know-how that we’re aiming to underscore in the future with the brand changeover. However, our proven and very successful premium brake brand ATE will be retained,” says Peter Wagner, who heads the OE & Aftermarket Services segment at Continental. The products will not change as a result of the brand name changeover: “Original stays original. Our customers can continue to rely on the proven premium quality of our original equipment,” emphasizes Wagner. Under the VDO brand, Continental has so far sold original passenger car spare parts such as fuel systems, actuators, common rail diesel systems and sensors, as well as service equipment.
The brand name change will also affect the workshop concepts as well as the packaging, catalog and website. The catalog and website have already been changed into the Continental design, but the packaging itself is being converted step-by-step. In addition to the packaging, the workshop concepts previously managed under VDO are also being given new names. “VDO Electronics Partners” will become “Continental Electronics Partners” and “VDO Diesel Repair Partners” will become “Continental Diesel Repair Partners”. In this way, the new, uniform Continental brand will not only offer high-quality spare parts in OEM quality, it will also continue to provide first-hand know-how, technical information, marketing support and training programs.
The change only affects the VDO product brand in the passenger car spare parts and service equipment business. VDO will continue to be the proven and successful brand for intelligent digital tachograph solutions, fleet management systems, data-based services and the associated workshop business.
Christopher Schrecke
Media speaker Automotive Aftermarket
Continental Automotive