Private brand Nordexx, from Denmark’s NDI Group, has launched its first all-season tyre for cars and vans. The NA6000 targets “a gap in the market for affordable all-season tyres,” Admir Ramic, Nordexx export manager, tells Tyres & Accessories. The Nordexx brand is exported to 61 countries around the world.
Tyre maker Hankook had rounded off its 2020 off-road car tyre range with the Dynapro AT2, an all-round 4×4 tyre that features winter tyre accreditation. The Hankook Dynapro AT2 takes over from the Dynapro AT M. This covers the needs of all those customers who require high traction and safety with their off-road vehicle both on and off paved roads. Thanks to the 3PMSF symbol on the sidewall, drivers can now drive legally all year round with this tyre. The line-up covers all popular sizes in this category from 15 to 22 inches.
Having hinted at its impending introduction in February, Goodyear has launched the Vector 4Seasons Gen-3. The most recent instalment in its award-winning range of all-season tyres, Goodyear’s latest generation tyre is designed to provide “improved snow, wet and dry performance”.
All-season tyres offer safety in a wide range of weather conditions and have gained a lot of traction within the passenger car segment. But what about campervans – is all-season a good choice of tyre for those hoping to squeeze in a belated post-lockdown holiday? Auto Bild Reisemobil fitted eight sets of all-season campervan tyres to a VW Crafter with a 600 kilogramme payload and put them through their paces to check performance in dry, wet and snowy conditions.
Bridgestone has launched the Weather Control A005 EVO tyre, the second generation of its all-season touring tyre. The tyre is designed to meet the needs and expectations of European drivers, built using Bridgestone’s advanced, high silica NanoPro-tech compound technology. Its new mixing technology that improves silica dispersion. This allows the A005 EVO to offer enhanced fuel efficiency alongside improved winter performance. Like its predecessor, the Weather Control A005, Bridgestone’s new EVO edition has been designed to deliver year-round control, safety, and convenience, reengineered to offer additional performance benefits.
After several months of test production, Nokian Tyres’ new factory in the USA has begun making tyres destined for retail sale. Now that the tyre maker has reached this milestone on schedule, it will steadily increase volume throughout the year and will continue growing it until reaching an annual capacity of four million tyres by 2023.
Nokian Tyres has traditionally focused first and foremost on winter tyres, and these products currently account for around 70 per cent of the company’s passenger vehicle tyre business. But a reputation as a winter specialist means the brand hasn’t gained significant traction in markets where winter tyres find little favour, such as the UK. The tyre maker intends to rectify this.
Goodyear claims that it has achieved an industry first, having developed an all-season tyre with both the Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMSF) sidewall marking an A-rated fuel efficiency on the EU tyre label. The new tyre, which Goodyear confirmed to Tyres & Accessories is the third generation of its test-winning Vector 4Seasons line, was conducted jointly by Goodyear’s technology teams in Luxembourg and Germany, in conjunction with original equipment manufacturers, leveraging tread pattern developments present in its all-season lines for the replacement market, as well as new rubber compounding formulations.
Last month we heard that, according to the latest market data collated by analysts at GfK, both the value and the volume of the overall sell-out UK car tyre replacement market decreased in 2019. However, the value-rich SUV tyre sub-segment and its all-season tyre sub niche continue to show encouraging signs of growth. So, with this in mind, the March magazine’s SUV tyre feature takes a closer look at the latest trends in this particular market space.
In January GfK’s “panelmarket” identified SUV tyres and all-season tyres as top two growing sub-segments in 2019. Indeed, since all-season tyre sales have shot up 19 per cent in terms of value and 13 per cent up in volume, the UK market is now selling four times as many all-season tyres as winter tyres sold at their peak. Within this, high performance tyres and bigger size tyres, specifically 17-inch and over, are growing fastest (see separate article for further details).
Evidence from a number of market research sources concurs – increasing numbers of motorists are choosing all-season tyres for their cars. The first indication came from GfK data, which compared the percentage growth of all-season tyre sales reported by its UK panelmarket (in terms of volume and value) in 2018 with seasonal tyre sales during 2019. Winter tyre sales volumes were down 1 per cent last year. During the same period, winter tyre values fell three times faster (down 3 per cent).
The combination of political disruption and Brexit uncertainty made 2019 a tough year for the UK economy in general, so it is not surprising to learn that this was reflected in the overall passenger car tyre replacement market. According to the latest sell-out UK tyre replacement market data collated by analysts at GfK, the headline news is that both the value and the volume of the decreased in 2019. But there are reasons for hope, with signs of growth remaining in the value-rich SUV tyre sub-segment and with evidence of strong growth in sales of all-season tyres.
Giti Tire has expanded its seasonal tyre range with the launch of the GitiAllSeasonCity, a passenger car tyre aimed at smaller A-C segment vehicles including the Fiat 500, Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Polo. Initially available in European markets (but not in the UK) in 13 sizes from 165/70R14 to 195/55R16 across speed indices H and T, the tyre carries the Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMSF) symbol for approved fitment in markets with laws governing winter tyre use.
In the spring, Auto Bild looked at the wet and dry braking results from five of its latest summer and all-season tyre tests. Tyre brands that had participated in at least three tests received an average percentage value for all braking tests results, and based on these values the motoring magazine named Michelin its ‘Manufacturer of the Year’. With winter now approaching, Auto Bild has reached for its pocket calculator again to work out which products are “the best tyres for the cold season”.
Giti Tire has added a number of patterns to its independently accredited three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) range for the 2019/20 winter season, bringing the total number of options to 23.
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