Regional transport, according to one study, accounts for 62 per cent of total truck traffic in Western Europe, and companies involved in the sector face the challenge of meeting customer expectations for greater loads and speed while simultaneously dealing with increasing operating costs. Michelin states it has heavily invested in research and development with the goal of providing innovative solutions to this challenge for a long time now, and one product to arise out of the almost 500 million euros its allocates its Technology Center each year is the Michelin X MultiWay 3D. The tyre maker describes this new product as a “tangible example of such a solution,” one that delivers unrivalled performance balance,” and considers it an important product due to its ability to combine “seemingly irreconcilable performance features” – an achievement, it adds, that would be “impossible without the right technologies.”