Will the EU Tread on the Inch Worm?

In the last month the subject of metrification has caused something of stir. But if the reports that such a blanket conversion would cost billions are true, it is easy to see why. The furore all boils down to a new proposed EU directive designed to standardise all measurements to the metric system – and in so doing literally decimate inches. EU directive 80/181 also seeks to do away with the kind of imperial/metric dual markings that are currently commonplace with supermarket weights and alcoholic drink quantities for example. According to reports, the threatened legislation aiming to ban all non-metric measurements is scheduled for introduction in 2010 – only three years away.

But what about the suggestion that legislative change would cost the tyre industry billions of pounds? As we all know tyres are currently measured in the combination of millimetres and inches. Currently almost all diameters are measured in inches while section widths are expressed in millimetres. Changing this would mean either changing thousands of manufacturing moulds or renaming all 16-inch products as 40.64 centimetre tyres.

The Tyre Industry Federation (TIF) has made its collective point of view clear: “A ban on their use would have a severe impact on both the industry itself and the users of the product. At the very least such a move would cause disruption to the global trade in tyres, which is the norm in the industry, lead to other practical problems, impose substantial costs and sow confusion in the minds of motorists.

But this isn’t the only challenge facing tyre designers. In recent years most tyre manufacturers have taken sidewall design to new levels of attractiveness. However, companies are increasingly coming under pressure to include more and more regulatory marks on tyres. Not so long ago it was just the United States’ DOT mark and the E mark that were required. Now countries as far afield as Australia and Saudi Arabia are making similar demands.

Taking China as an example, Imported Tyre Manufacturers Association (ITMA) director, Peter Taylor, went on record pointing out various nations’ and regions’ decisions to impose their own regulatory guidelines on the world: “Recently China introduced the so-called ‘CCC’ (a China approval marking). Approvals are granted by tyre size series and separately for the producing factory or factories. To make matters worse, they must be re-audited annually by specially licensed consultants.

“It does not end there. All tyres supplied to the People’s Republic – whether for the replacement market or as original equipment on new vehicles – must carry the new mark, so each and every producing tyre mould must be taken out of production and re-engraved. The cost is huge and other important producing countries may be tempted down a similar path.”

Will the tyre industry have to measure everything in millimetres in 2010? Not necessarily. The wheels of government (particularly European government) often take longer than expected and are often modified on their way to the statute books. But that is beside the point. You have ask what the point of such a regulation is? You can bet it isn’t customer driven. So what exactly do consumers, the tyre industry or Europe as whole stand to gain from dividing all our diameters by 2.5?