Zenises has opened a new office in Sydney, Australia. With the initial focus on its Z brand for passenger cars and SUVs, the new regional office will also offer a wide range of products throughout Australia and the surrounding areas of New Zealand and other Pacific markets.
Of all the tyres fitted to prestige vehicles at the Geneva Motor Show, 51 per cent were made by Pirelli. Pirelli’s premium vehicle share at the show was 32 per cent. According to Pirelli general manager, operations, Gregorio Borgo the Geneva shares are pretty much the same as Pirelli’s real-world market share. Now consider the fact that registration of prestige marques (the most exclusives brands) have increased seven-fold since 2000. During the same period, the registrations of premium marques have tripled. Meanwhile, general market registrations are only 1.5 times greater than they were at the turn of the millennium. With this in mind, you can see why Pirelli was keen to preview its latest P Zero tyre in the context of the Geneva motor show and why the company is emphasising so-called “marked tyres” more than ever.
Michelin gives word that its fourth-generation Pilot Sport is being released in Europe as of this month. The initial launch range includes 17 tyres for 17 and 18-inch rims, with 19-inch fitments being introduced later this year and in 2017.
One of the many global debuts we can expect at this month’s IAA exhibition is the latest and greatest from Continental, and prior to the Frankfurt show dealers and automotive media gained the chance to discover this new ultra high performance summer tyre – a product Continental’s head of tyre development says is the company’s sportiest on-road tyre ever. Our first impression of the Continental SportContact 6 is of a tyre that allows drivers to explore the limits of sport car performance while offering a forgiving response should the limits of the driver’s own abilities be reached first.
Continental has begun hiring employees for its HPTC (High Performance Technology Center), the “factory within a factory” built over the past year at its Korbach plant in Germany. Although construction work is not yet complete, the tyre maker expects to fill 24 job vacancies by the end of this year.
Having working together since 1997, at this year’s Autopromotec Italian distributor Intergomma SpA showed tyres representing the entire Aeolus range. The centrepieces were the two forks of the new ACE2 range, the ultra high-performance SteeringACE2 and high-performance PrecisionACE2.
Kumho’s latest high-performance offering, the ECSTA HS51, was awarded a ‘Recommended’ rating in the recent test by the highly regarded German consumer magazine, ACE Lenkrad. And, according to company representatives, it was the racetrack as much as the test track that led to this result.
Having heard both the consensus and a third party perspective on what the high performance tyre market is and what is happening in it, when Tyres & Accessories asked Neil Hendry, general manager – Passenger Car Tires, Europe for Giti Tire for his and Giti’s view, he offered another perspective again.
Treadsetters is promoting its Hifly HF 805 UHP pattern as “the competitive option”, while at the same time highlighting its production in “an international, technologically advanced production facility which incorporates all the very latest tyre building and design developments”.
As we have seen, the high performance tyre market is a complex and competitive environment. The fact that most manufacturers define and therefore calculate the market in a slightly different way adds to the complexity. With this in mind, Tyres & Accessories asked GfK automotive account director Kevin Glynn for some outside insights into what is going on in the world of high performance tyres.
At the start of 2015 we examined the wider car tyre segment as part of Tyres & Accessories February’s “Passenger Car Tyre” feature. In short, we examined the spectrum of figures offered for the size of UK demand and found that most sources settle between 31 and 38 million units a year. Interestingly, some of the latest data points to the market being at the higher end of the spectrum – something that has not been very widely or openly acknowledged in the past.
With manufacturers continuing to increase the performance of their cars, Maxxis reports that it is “continually investing in the development of its tyres to ensure that it offers drivers the perfect solution, whatever their requirements.”
Since the launch of the Victra Sport VS01 high performance tyre at the beginning of last year, Maxxis has increased the size range it is available substantially, with fifty-nine sizes currently available in this fitment. Furthermore, the VS01 range now has a Y rated option.
New tyre brand Davanti has launched a new website ahead of its debut at Autopromotec 2015 in Bologna later this month. The website, www.davanti-tyres.com, showcases the new range and the key features of the new tyres.
Michelin has announced plans to expand production at its Nyíregyháza (northeastern Hungary) production plant as part of a 40 million investment project. According to the local Budapest Business Journal, the investment is expected to raise the plant’s daily output to 6,900 tyres by the end of 2017 and raise headcount by 100. Hungarian news agency […]
A few months ago the company behind the Infinity, Westlake and Linglong brands in our region unveiled its new corporate identity and name, Zenises. It also previewed an upcoming tyre brand, known simply as ‘Z’. The new brand was officially launched yesterday, and Zenises says it “stands apart from the crowded tyre market by delivering an unbeatable combination of performance, visual appeal and value for money.”
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