Goodyear Dunlop to show AA-graded concept tyres in Essen

Goodyear Dunlop has announced plans to present its first concept passenger car tyres to achieve A-grades in both rolling resistance and wet grip on the new EU tyre label. The two concept tyres, the Goodyear EfficientGrip AA edition and the Dunlop Sport BluResponse AA will be on display at Reifen 2012 on the Goodyear Dunlop stand (3-117) at next week’s Essen show. The concept tyres will not be available for sale.

The tyre manufacturer reports that it has achieved the highest possible grade ‘A’ on wet grip with its new AA concept tyres as well as a top mark ‘A’ in fuel efficiency. The tyre will also achieve what the company describe as “good” results in the third criteria of the new EU Tyre Label, exterior noise. Initially the company didn’t release specifics about this, but in answer to Tyres & Accessories’ questions Goodyear Dunlop confirmed that Goodyear’s EfficientGrip AA will show one sound wave on the label. This puts it amongst the quieter tyres ranked by the new labelling system. The Dunlop concept has two and is therefore louder, apparently because it is based on a sportier initial product.

According to the company, Goodyear Dunlop’s long-term goal is to apply these new breakthrough tyre technologies and compounds to the company’s top green product lines – the Goodyear EfficientGrip and the Dunlop Sport BluResponse. “We are proud to announce that we have achieved a major breakthrough in tyre technology that leads to both – significantly less fuel consumption and better wet braking performance,” said Jean-Pierre Jeusette, director Goodyear Innovation Center Luxembourg.

“It’s extremely challenging to develop tyres that achieve top grading in all aspects of the EU Tyre Label  keeping high levels of performance in all other relevant performance and safety related criteria such as dry braking and handling, high speed stability, mileage or aquaplaning.  Our biggest challenge is now to work on the industrialisation of these new tyre technologies and sophisticated material mixes to make sure they can be produced on a large-scale. This still requires many more months of hard work for our engineers. Whatever specific tyre performance we try to improve, the goal is always a well-balanced tyre across Goodyear Dunlop’s full spectrum of performance criteria,” said Jeusette.

Source: Goodyear Dunlop

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