Infinity questions ADAC test’s winter tyre selection

Infinity Tyres Europe has questioned a recent ADAC winter tyre test’s selection of its INF049 – a tyre the company says is no longer in production. The tyre was evaluated as part of the 2014 ADAC winter tyre test, and while the manufacturer does not wish to question the German organisation’s testing parameters, it criticises the selection process that led to its INF049 tyre being tested. Infinity says the tyre was “only available to purchase in 2013.”

“We regret that it’s not the current Infinity winter product that has been tested,” commented Jorge Crespo, Infinity’s European general manager. “Even though our INF049 winter tyre has enjoyed excellent customer satisfaction over several years, we have now made significant tread compound changes which improve the wet grip performance capabilities for the 2014 season.”

Infinity suggests that because the duration of time between the purchase of the test tyres and the publication of the test results can be up to a full year, any such testing cannot evaluate new winter ranges introduced for the 2014 season (or recent modifications to existing winter tyres).

In this way, Infinity contends, “any tyre test involving currently out-dated specifications of INF049 will, unfortunately, not accurately reflect the latest INF049 tyres available for purchase throughout the 2014 winter season.”

The brand, whose tyres are manufactured by China’s Shandong Linglong, says that extensive development and modifications to the INF049 range have been incorporated for all 2014 production tyres, including “significant investment in research into the chemical compositions of the tread (including the use of newly developed high silica compounds)”. It says that these new developments are intended to improve greatly the tyre’s wet performance whilst maintaining ice and snow driving characteristics.