Marangoni: Back To Basics With Verso

Verso is the new passenger car tyre from Marangoni, which the company says is the result of a long process of product development and improvement. The target market for this T, H, V and W-rated tyre is broad; the sizes in the Verso line cover more than 45 per cent of the European market for replacement summer car tyres.

The Marangoni Research Centre focused on the progressive fine-tuning of ideas, materials and technologies. The key characteristic of Verso’s design is the progressive elimination of every superfluous element, concentrating on refining only the essential characteristics. This evolutionary process begins with the tyre’s name: because in Italian Verso means “towards”. Below is a brief summary of how this search for basic elements has been incorporated into the Verso design.

Verso’s designers have concentrated on the three key areas of Safety, Comfort and Balanced Performance. The most important element in any driving situation, safety is mainly defined in the tyre’s performance on wet surfaces, under the most slippery conditions. Here, Verso’s scores highly, due to a series of factors:
The tread design has four circumferential grooves, which results in resistance to aquaplaning that is significantly improved over the previous Marangoni model (Vanto) and matches any of its competitors.
The exclusive CVR (Constant Void Ratio) technology, which optimises the footprint and guarantees a uniform distribution of pressure over the entire footprint, under all conditions, for excellent grip and a significant reduction in braking distance. Special compounds have been created using FOM-IC technology, which result in a sharp increase in grip, performance and control.

Verso’s drivers immediately feel another characteristic; that of comfort, as an in-depth study of tread block sequences has resulted in an exceptionally quiet tyre. There is also an important contribution from Cap & Base technology that increases the tyre’s ability to efficiently absorb any bumps from an uneven road surface.

The choice of a symmetric design, which promotes uniform wear, means that the Verso’s characteristics are maintained over time at an optimum level of performance.

The term balanced performance essentially means that Verso is the synthesis of three factors: progressive response; precision driving on both dry and wet surfaces and stability at high speeds. This is a result of PST Eco, the most recent development of Marangoni’s PST (Performance, Safety and Technology) technological platform, which supplemented its well-tested construction guidelines with an ecological aspect that involves the use of materials recovered from the thermal processing of worn tyres. PST Eco reduces deformation in critical areas of the tyre’s structure, leading to superior progressive response and driving pleasure.

The PST Eco specifications have been enhanced by the tread design: the reinforced shoulders increase lateral stability at high speeds and the solid central rib ensures maximum directional precision.

The huge resources that Marangoni has invested in the development of the Verso project are justified by the product’s unique positioning: the sizes in the Verso line cover more than 45 per cent of the European market for replacement summer car tyres. The Verso is available in no fewer than 36 sizes, for rims from 14″ to 17″, with aspect ratios from 65 series down to 50 series and in T, H, V and W speed ratings.

From compact cars to high-end sedans, Verso is designed for the types of cars that make up the biggest slice of the automobile market, says Marangoni.