Michelin Snaps Up Motor Transport Innovation Award

The Grosvenor House Hotel in London’s Park Lane played host to some 1,300 road transport professionals on the evening of 1 July. The reason for this gathering of senior industry figures was of course the 23rd Motor Transport Awards, in which approximately 70 contenders vied for victory in the 16 award categories. Amongst this elite group was Michelin, who on the evening walked away with the Innovation Award, having beat off stiff competition from a trio of fellow finalists – white goods manufacturer Indesit UK, asset management specialist Amey, and a joint entry from B&Q and Ceva Logistics.

The award was jointly presented by comedian Omid Djalili, category sponsor Trevor Ellis, chairman of Palletline, and Justin Stanton, editor of Motor Transport magazine. The trophy was received by Bill Schafer, the newly appointed commercial director of Michelin’s truck tyre division, and Martin Covington, head of Truck and Earthmover Marketing. This award is particularly significant to Michelin as, so it reports, its attainment demonstrates that its new X One MaxiTrailer tyre not only delivers an impressive increase in tyre life of up to 50 per cent, but also provides significant gains in productivity, safety and reduced environmental impact.

Commenting on the win, Covington said: “The panel of judges usually select three finalists in each category, so for there to be four of us shows just how tough the competition has been. Achieving a win – especially on the first occasion we’ve ever entered the awards – is a great result for everyone at Michelin and highlights the benefits of consistently investing more in research and development than any other tyre manufacturer in the world.

“The X One MaxiTrailer tyre is a relatively new product on the market, but trials with a number of major fleets are delivering outstanding results – in many cases out-performing our projected 50 per cent increase in tyre life and delivering improvements as high as 82 per cent. It’s a staggering performance and is being achieved using patented innovations which we believe represent the most notable change in truck tyre manufacturing since Michelin introduced radial truck tyres back in 1952,” he adds.

The X One MaxiTrailer tyre (455/45 R 22.5) is built using Infinicoil architecture, one of the key innovations of Michelin Durable Technologies, which consists of a 400 metre steel cord wrapped continuously around the crown to deliver unrivalled robustness, greater longevity and very even wear. Compared to a regular 385/65 R 22.5 trailer tyre, the tread band is also 120 millimetres wider and has 35 per cent more rubber in the compound. It is primarily available for fitment as original equipment on new trailers manufactured across Europe, and when fitted to most conventional or mega volume trailers it can increase load volume by between five and nine cubic metres due to its low profile design.