Kumho’s latest all-season tyre, the Solus HA31, has been accorded a Japanese Good Design Award. So too has the Kumho Eco Sense SE11 – a pattern specifically designed for environmentally friendly and electric vehicles but which, unlike the HA31, isn’t currently available in the UK market.
TÜV SÜD has shared its thoughts on winter and all-season tyres. While the testing and certification specialist doesn’t wish to cast doubt over the safety advantage winter tyres offer when driving on snow and ice, it also considers all-season tyres a suitable choice for motorists who only drive in flat or lowland regions and spend a lot of time on the motorway.
Hot on the heels of the news that Michelin’s year-round summer tyre (the CrossClimate) has beaten all-season tyres at their own game in a magazine tyre test (see “Summer tyre wins all-season test”, which reports on the ADAC test originally published on 22 September), Michelin previewed the next generation of its category-defying product – the CrossClimate+ at the Paris Motor Show at the start of October. In addition to the original product’s unique summer-tyre-with-a-three-peaks-mountain-snowflake qualification, the latest version is said to improve winter performance and consistent whole tread life performance. This latter point picks up on what appears to be an increasingly important theme to Michelin – that tyres should performs consistently well through right up to the 1.6mm legal tread depth limit (see “Michelin reaffirms opposition to 3mm replacement” for more on this).
The results table for the 2016 Auto Bild all-season tyre test saw last year’s winner and runner-up – the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons and Michelin CrossClimate – swap places. This occurrence means that this year’s size 205/55 R16 all-season tyre test was in fact won by a summer tyre, as Michelin considers its CrossClimate a summer fitment designed and legally approved for year-round use. Call it what you like, at any rate the Auto Bild team deemed the Michelin CrossClimate the pick of the ten-tyre bunch, and awarded it the test’s only ‘exemplary’ rating.
A recent comparative test of all-season tyres from Germany suggested these products deliver less than optimal performance when driven on dry roads. The question of all-season versus dedicated seasonal fitments has once again arisen in the latest tyre test from auto motor und sport magazine. In this evaluation of four size 215/60 R17 H/V tyres – the sort of rubber often found on SUVs such as the VW Tiguan, Skoda Yeti or Vauxhall Mokka (which served as test vehicle) – only one protagonist gained the top ‘recommended’ rating.
British Gas states that the Michelin CrossClimate has “exceeded expectations”. Britain’s largest energy provider’s 13,000-strong commercial vehicle fleet has been running on the tyre for more than a year; it switched in mid-2015 after fleet manager Colin Marriott tested the tyre at a launch event in Geneva, comparing the technology to Michelin’s winter and summer tyre ranges, as well as competitors’ all-season tyres. The British Gas deal is symbolic of Michelin’s success in rethinking a tyre to be fitted year-round in moderate climates like the UK’s, set against the sustained failure to increase the share of winter tyres in the country.
Antwerp-based wholesaler Deldo is introducing new cold weather patterns into its Minerva and Superia private brand ranges. Both ranges benefit, shares Deldo, from a “strong price improvement” that has led to pre-order volumes reaching unprecedented levels over the last couple of years and helped the company to gain market share and increase its private brand partners’ sell-in. “More importantly, it helps our partners gain market share as they will also enjoy a better market position,” adds Deldo.
When Pirelli introduced its Carrier van tyre range two years ago, the company stated an aim of making Carrier the “European leader in the tyre replacement market for light commercial vehicles.” the initial summer tyre line was joined by a selection of winter products in the run-up to the 2014/15 season, and now demand in a fast-growing market segment will be satisfied with the introduction of the Pirelli Carrier All Season.
Goodyear’s all-season Vector 4Seasons Generation-2 tyre has been awarded the test win in German automotive magazine Gute Fahrt. Receiving high wet and dry grip marks, the tyre was the only tested model to claim the magazine’s “Sehr Gut-“ (Very Good-) ranking. As of April 2016, the tyre’s fitment portfolio has been extended to SUV sizes, as the manufacturer seeks to harness demand for all-season products in the quickest growing market segment.
Nexen Tire intends to entirely renew its European market winter tyre portfolio over the coming two years, and it got this underway at Reifen 2016 today with the launch of a brand new all-season range. The new line-up was presented by Ralf Flachbarth, development engineer at Nexen Tire Europe; Flachbarth shared that the N’Blue 4 Season was targeted at the small to mid-size vehicle segments and will be available in 38 sizes for 13 to 17-inch rim diameters.
Sailun states that it has boosted sales growth and market share “in many European countries” since the introduction of its new car and truck tyre distribution strategy in 2011. The cornerstones of this strategy, which the manufacturer describes as “relatively simple” with “several key interlocking components”, including the full range of Sailun car, truck and bus, summer, winter, and all-season tyres will be demonstrated on the Sailun stand at Reifen 2016: Hall 7, stand 7D20.
According to Michelin, some 53 million intermediate-range tyres are sold in Europe every year, and an increasing number of these are all-season tyres. The tyre maker’s own figures puts European all-season tyre sales (for all product tiers) at 10 million units in 2014, more than twice the number sold two years earlier. Michelin has developed a product that targets the all-season market within the intermediate segment, and is launching it this month. The new Kleber Quadraxer 2 is now available as a replacement market fitment.
Van Fleet World has presented Michelin’s CrossClimate tyre range with a second fleet award in as many months. The tyre was named winner of the Innovation Award at the Van Fleet World Honours 2016 to follow its Best New Product gong presented by Fleet News in March. The latest award was presented to Andy Fern, Michelin’s head of fleet, at the RAC Club in London before an audience of senior executives from across the fleet sector.
Interstate Tire & Rubber Co has introduced a new all-season line, the Interstate All Season GT. Production of the range, which includes 32 passenger car, SUV and light truck sizes, begins this month, and the Interstate All Season GT will be officially launched in May at the company’s Reifen show stand.
Michelin’s new CrossClimate tyre range for cars and small vans – the world’s first summer tyre with winter capabilities – has won the prestigious Fleet News Award for Best New Product 2016.
The award was presented Thursday 10 March at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London before an audience of more than 1,500 senior executives from across the fleet industry.
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