Instead of upgrading a highway tyre, General’ s Grabber Cross A / S is a dedicated design for South African crossover SUV drivers.
General’ s gravel travel tyre
Instead of upgrading a highway tyre, General’ s Grabber Cross A / S is a dedicated design for South African crossover SUV drivers.
Responding to real user needs
Engineers developed the General Grabber Cross A / S based on an 80 / 20 customer driving reality between onand off-road terrain.
South Africa is one of the global markets where crossover SUV drivers do use their vehicles on unsealed roads and terrain that’ s too challenging for a highway tyre. Customers want more gravel travel confidence and puncture protection, but don’ t want annoyingly enhanced daily highway driving road noise.
The General Grabber Cross A / S features hexagonal tread blocks with biting edges and mini-lugs wrapping onto the casing shoulder and upper sidewall, enhancing traction in mud and sand.
Tread sipes really make a difference by increasing traction during emergency braking and steering on wet roads. The General Grabber Cross A / S tyres feature both longitudinal and transverse tread block sipes. These allow dynamic tread block responses in highload braking conditions and give the tread blocks the dynamic deformation required to enhance braking traction and reduce braking distances.
For crossover SUV owners who want to use their vehicles for rewarding adventure driving journeys with the family, sidewall cuts on dirt roads are always a risk. Engineers need to balance the need for ride comfort and vertical compliance throughout the casing, with the reality that South African dirt roads have some of the sharpest loose shale, which can create a sidewall cut.
The General Grabber A / S features the brand’ s Duragen technology, with reinforced steel belts and a more cutresistant rubber compound.
Recognising the needs of the South African crossover SUV market, General is marketing 32 versions of the Grabber Cross A / S, sized between 16- and 22-inches, for both two- and four-wheel drive vehicles.
Crossover SUVs are the most popular full-size family vehicle category in many global markets. South Africa is no exception, but the local terrain diversity creates a much more demanding driving reality for Crossover SUVs
South Africa has the world’ s most extensively used dirt road network. That means that urban families who own crossover SUVs are more likely to use them as true all-terrain vehicles in South Africa than in markets like Europe. And that’ s where the issue of highway tyre vulnerability on dirt roads becomes a real problem.
Continental has responded to the need for a more robust intermediate tyre type, for crossover SUV owners. The new General Grabber Cross A / S is designed for crossover SUV owners who want more confidence when occasionally journeying on rough dirt roads for a weekend away. But without compromising too much on highway noise or braking traction during an emergency.
WORDS IN ACTION 54 JULY | AUGUST 2026