Goodyear is responding to the increasing electrification of the vehicle market by refining its tyre technologies to meet the specific needs of electric vehicles (EVs). The tyre maker has enhanced its current line-up, including the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6, UltraGrip Performance 3, and Vector 4Seasons Gen-3, to cater to both EVs and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
Volkswagen is launching the latest versions of its Passat estate, which is known as the Variant in most markets, and has selected a range of Goodyear summer, all-season and winter tyres as original equipment. A Goodyear tyre is available for all applicable sizes on the new model.
No less than 95 new SKUs will join the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 range in the coming weeks and months. Announcing the new sizes, Goodyear says it will particularly focus on 19-inch and larger rim diameters, catering to growth in the SUV market across Europe.
Today isn’t 1 April and no legs were pulled during the writing of the above headline. Swiss motoring magazine auto-illustrierte has published a tyre test – and every single protagonist is a Goodyear tyre. Who stood where on the podium is nonetheless interesting.
Sometimes a tyre test resembles a day with the mean kids at school, with a low-priced budget tyre invited to hang out – only to be later mocked as vastly inferior to its peers. But not the latest comparative evaluation from European motoring associations ACE, ARBÖ and GTÜ – while everybody doesn’t win a prize, all present are commended for one characteristic or another.
Continental’s SportContact 7, WhatTyre Tyre of the Year 2022, added to its impressive tally of test victories as it was named the “outstanding” tyre in the Sportauto summer tyre test 2023. Elsewhere there was a very notable showing for the “very good” Firestone Firehawk Sport, one of only two tyres to record above-average ratings in all three disciplines rated in Sportauto’s final analysis – wet, dry and environmental. The tyre infiltrated the group of five premium brands in the top half of the rankings, beating its Bridgestone stablemate, the Potenza Sport, and the Pirelli P Zero PZ4. The magazine tested eleven tyres in size 225/40 R18 92Y XL mounted on an Audi S3.
Auto Bild has published the second-round results of its size 225/45 R18 summer 2023 tyre test, and thanks to cost factors contributing 20% to the final score, participating tyres gained an opportunity to demonstrate their price-performance ratio. This year’s winner is the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6, a tyre that not only impressed the publication’s test team in wet and dry conditions – its purchase price and mileage potential ensured a second victory as economy champion.
A further four “strategic sizes” join the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 range this year and cover popular models such as the Kia Sportage, Peugeot 5008, and Tesla Model 3. Tyre sizes 235/45R18 98Y XL and 245/40R19 101Y HL are already available, while 225/55R18 102Y XL and 225/55R18 98Y will arrive in April and June respectively.
Goodyear has optimised its UHP tyre development by combining different techniques and disciplines through a statistical model, a process it used when working on the Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6. FEDIL has recognised Goodyear’s step forward with a 2022 Innovation Award. The Luxembourg-based multisectoral business federation has honoured the tyre maker in the ‘Process’ category of its awards.
Bridgestone’s newest ultra-high performance tyre, the Potenza Sport offered the best results in wet and dry performance in the latest Auto Express tyre test. The tyre was able to make the most of its home field advantage as the magazine used Bridgestone’s Aprilla proving ground, just besting Goodyear’s Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 by 0.5 per cent. Another notable result was the third-place finish of the Maxxis Victra Sport 5, which adds to a growing list of test successes proving that the brand is increasingly able to hold its own against the traditional premium brands. The test was conducted on the biggest selling 18” tyre size, 225/40R18 92Y. This UHP tyre test of seven products was split from the “UUHP mini test” of three of the highest-performing road tyre products, won by the new Continental SportContact 7. For the UHP test, Auto Express weighted its results to reflect UK driving needs: wet tests counted for 50 per cent of the final mark, dry 40 per cent, and the remaining 10 per cent on noise, fuel economy and price.
Goodyear’s Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 was launched in late 2021 with the promise that it would be “ready for anything”. The tyre has certainly impressed in its initial run of independent tyres tests, picking up wins in the Auto Bild, Auto Motor und Sport, and Tyre Reviews tests. But Goodyear’s mission for the tyre has gone beyond its traditional wet and dry performance characteristics; the manufacturer wants to bring this technology to a very wide selection of cars – hence its plan to offer 65 fitments between 17” and 22”, a relatively broad range, by 2023. The tyre and this range is designed to offer fitments for existing growth vehicle types, like SUVs, and future dramatic changes in the market, with a construction making it suitable for the wave of battery electric and hybrid vehicles quickly entering the car parc. In 2021, petrol cars retained a leading 40 per cent share, but battery electric (EV) cars took a record 9 per cent of the European market and hybrid (PHEV and HEV) grew to a significant 20 per cent share, according to ACEA data.
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