Research And Development In The Tyre Business

Each year in spring the schedule of our editorial staff fills with new tyre launches. What is the reasoning behind the development of more and more new tyres? Is it because customers constantly demand new products? Do they really ask for two per cent more grip on wet roads or three per cent more safety on aquaplaning? Hardly. Many surveys show that customers do not care much about their tyres.

Sometimes they do not even know the size of the tyre on their car never mind the correct tyre pressure. And although many customers make the decision which tyre to buy after consulting the test results published in the big German magazines, there is no such thing as a “consumer pressure” on the tyre manufacturers to develop new tyres. More often the industry itself maybe is disappointed with the test results and this might then be a motivation create new products.

But indisputably, the greatest drive comes from the car manufacturers. They are constantly demanding higher performing tyres for ever higher performing cars. This is the reason why NEUE REIFENZEITUNG visited the research and development departments of several car and tyre manufacturers to get an impression how they are working together, and to follow up the route of a new tyre from the first sketches to the start of the production.