Continental is as much part of the general aviation community’s vocabulary as wings or propellers, Continental have been supplying aviation engines since as early as 1929, It was originally spun off from automobile engine manufacturer Continental Motors Company. In August that year, the Continental Motors Company formed the Continental Aircraft Engine Company as a subsidiary to develop and produce its aircraft engines. This came about as they released their first aircraft engine, a seven-cylinder radial designated as the A-70, with a displacement of 8.91L that produced 170 hp.
As the Great Depression unwound, 1930 saw the company introduce the 37 hp A-40 four-cylinder engine. A follow-on design, the 50 hp A-50 was introduced in 1938 and was used to power the Taylor Cub and derivative Piper Cub.
The Second World War started in 1939 Continental started building engines for use in British and American tanks. Continental formed Continental Aviation and Engineering (CAE) in 1940 to develop and produce aircraft engines of over 500 hp Continental ranked 38th among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.
During the late 1930s, early 1940s the Gray Marine Motor Company adapted Continental engines for maritime use. On 14 June 1944 the company was purchased by Continental for US$2.6 million. John W. Mulford, the son of one of Gray's founders was appointed general manager of Gray by Continental. Gray's continued to make marine engines in the post-war period until its closure by Continental in about 1967.
During the 1950s, the A-65 was developed into the more powerful 90 hp C-90 and eventually into the 100 hp O-200. The O-200 powered a very important aircraft design milestone: the Cessna 150.
By the 1960's turbocharging and fuel injection arrived in general aviation and the company's IO-520 series came to dominate the market.
In 1969, Teledyne Incorporated acquired Continental Motors, which became Teledyne Continental Motors (TCM). That same year, the Continental Tiara series of high output engines were introduced, although they were dropped from the line after 1978. The company brought the TSIO-520-BE for the Piper PA-46 to market in 1984 and it set new efficiency standards for light aircraft piston engines. Powered by a liquid-cooled version of the IO-240, the Rutan Voyager was the first piston-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the world without refuelling in 1986.
NASA selected Continental to develop and produce a new CD-200 200 hp piston engine to operate on Jet-A fuel for the General Aviation Propulsion (GAP) Program in 1997. This was in response to 100-octane aviation gasoline becoming less available as a result of decreased demand, due to smaller turboprop engines becoming more prevalent.
In 2008, Teledyne Continental's new president, Rhett Ross announced that the company was very concerned about future availability of 100LL avgas and as a result would develop a diesel engine in the 300 hp range for certification in 2009 or 2010. By the end of 2009 the company was feeling the effects of the economic situation and the resulting reduced demand for aircraft engines. The company announced that it would close its plant for two one-week periods in October 2009 and January 2010. Salaried employees would move to a four-day work week with one week vacations for Thanksgiving and Christmas, with the aim "to protect as much of our valuable employee base as possible".
On December 14, 2010, Continental's parent Teledyne announced that Teledyne Continental Motors, Teledyne Mattituck Services, and its general aviation piston engine business would be sold to Technify Motor (USA) Ltd, a subsidiary of AVIC International, for US$186 million in cash. AVIC is owned by the Chinese government. In May 2011, the transaction was reported as complete and the company renamed Continental Motors, Inc.
On 23 July 2013 the company bought diesel aircraft engine manufacturer Thielert from bankruptcy for an undisclosed sum. Thielert will become an operating division of Continental and was renamed Technify Motors GmbH
In March 2019 the company name was changed from Continental Motors, Inc. to Continental Aerospace Technologies and they continue to roll out quality aircraft engines.
