Independent Hails Labelling as “Bright New Future for the Tyre”

The Independent newspaper has hailed the forthcoming 2012 labelling legislation saying “drivers will soon be able to make a much more informed choice when buying tyres – and the product should be better too.”

Asking the question “how did you choose your last set of tyres?” the report, written by the Independent’s David Wilkins pragmatically suggests “the chances are that you simply asked for the cheapest option or told the garage to fit tyres of the same brand and type as those being replaced” and confesses “The truth is that most of us lack the knowledge to make informed choices about the subject.”

The report goes on to highlight the fact that Michelin believes 30 per cent of the tyres on sale today will not qualify for a rating under the standards set for 2012, while up to 70 per cent of today’s tyres probably wouldn’t meet the next round of requirements planned for 2016.

However, while Wilkins’ and story was largely supportive of the labelling legislation it also highlighted some of the practical difficulties associated with it: “One area of potential difficulty concerns the method of displaying the mandated information about tyres in a way that makes it easily accessible to customers. It’s easy to display the energy-efficiency ratings of a washing machine with a simple sticker, but tyres are handled extensively as they are delivered, loaded on to racks or rolled around a garage, reducing the chances of any sticker staying stuck for very long.” But it didn’t mention the fact that few consumers see the tyres they buy before purchase and that the details of the testing regime have yet to be confirmed.

Nevertheless, as Tyres & Accessories has discussed in some length within these pages, the report did refer to some of the potential knock-effects of the legislation. Quoting a particularly candid Michelin representative, Wilkins wrote: “One side-effect of the new regulations may be to make life more difficult for future importers of cheaper tyres from countries such as China. As one Michelin executive put it: ‘It is a consequence, but it is not an aim of the programme. Are we crying about it? No.’”

However, he was less sure that the new rules would have the desire effect: “I suspect, though, that established tyre-makers hoping that the new rules might actually make life easier for them, rather than more difficult, could be disappointed. Tyres from Japan and Korea, like the cars made in those countries, used to be regarded sceptically, but soon started to make the grade. I’m not sure that Chinese cars or tyres will be any different.”

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