Hella, the lighting and electronics specialist, and the French technology supplier Faurecia will cooperate in a strategic partnership for the development of innovative interior lighting solutions. Within this cooperation, the companies will jointly develop lighting solutions with high-technology content in the area of surface and dynamic-lighting for a comprehensive, personalised cockpit environment.
A number of the most eagerly-awaited cars debuting at the Paris Motor Show this month wear Pirelli rubber as original equipment, the Italian manufacturer reports. Pirelli tyres can be seen on two new Ferrari models and on the latest Audi Q5, Porsche Panamera and Land Rover Discovery. The latter three benefit from the Pirelli Noise Cancelling System, a sound-soaking sponge within the tyre that reduces tyre noise by two to three decibels – an amount equivalent to around half of all cabin noise.
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).
Lexus has introduced its Lexus UX concept car, fitted with Goodyear Urban Crossover concept tyres, at the Paris Motor Show 2016. The car is matched with special tyres, showcasing the cooperation between the two companies.
While some manufacturers lobby for tyres to be replaced at 3 or even 4 mm, Michelin maintains that the current legal limit of 1.6 mm is “perfectly suited” to modern motoring and has reaffirmed its opposition to a change in the legislation. Indeed, during the course of the Paris Motor Show, Michelin’s top executives will be making this argument with journalists, OEMs and of course the public.
Infiniti (part of the Nissan group) will present VC-T (Variable Compression-Turbocharged), the world’s first production-ready variable compression ratio engine and one of the most advanced internal combustion engines ever created, on September 29 at the 2016 Paris Motor Show (Mondial de l’Automobile).
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