Known for its style, speed and performance marketing values, Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is a multinational company based in Milan, Italy, listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922, with a temporary privatization period by the consortium led by the Chinese state-owned enterprise ChemChina.
Carl Casalbore has been appointed president of BKT Tires USA, effective 6 May. He replaces Rami Bitran. He is based at the company’s US headquarters in Akron, Ohio and joins BKT from Zafco/ZTI Tires, where he served as vice-president of sales. Casalbore has worked in the tyre industry for more than 30 years and also has sales executive posts with Armstrong Tire, Pirelli Tire North America, Cooper Tire & Rubber and Continental Tire the Americas.
On 25 April, Pirelli Tyres Limited submitted an application with Carlisle City Council to extend the warehouse facility at its Carlisle factory plus make other improvements to the Dalston Road site. Pirelli will add a further 4,060 square metres or so of warehouse space. The extension, which will include four loading bays, will increase the warehouse facility’s total size by approximately a third.
The latest sport touring tyre from Pirelli, the Angel GT, has hit the streets – and the Italian tyre maker claims it is number one for mileage within its segment. This weighty statement is based upon testing carried out by Motorrad TestCenter in Germany. Tyres & Accessories has yet to read the test report, however Pirelli indicates that the Angel GT was certified by Motorrad TestCenter as delivering better mileage than the Michelin Pilot Road 3, Dunlop Sportmax Roadsmart II, Bridgestone Battlax BT 023, Continental RoadAttack2 and Metzeler Roadtec Z8 Interact M/O.
During April’s Auto Shanghai show, Yokohama Rubber held a ceremony to mark its strong performance in the "2012 China Original Equipment Tire Satisfaction Index Study" carried out by the research firm J. D. Power Asia Pacific. The study, which was released in November 2012, placed Yokohama on top of the 19 original equipment tyre brands tested in terms of overall customer satisfaction. At the ceremony in Shanghai, Geoff Broderick, vice-president and general manager of J. D. Power and Associates Asia-Pacific, presented a plaque to Koichi Tanaka, chairman and president of Yokohama Rubber (China) Co., Ltd.
Pirelli has launched a promotion to British Superbike fans. Riders can benefit from a new money off promotion on the Angel GT. Racegoers visiting their local tyre store can hand over their 2013 MCE British Superbike Championship ticket to get £26 off a set of the tyre. The offer runs throughout the 2013 MCE BSB Championship, finishing on 31 October 2013 to cover all 12-round races.
Tyre supplier to the MCE British Superbike Championship, Pirelli has forecast an easy weekend on its tyres as the championship visits the picturesque Oulton Park circuit. Back to back weekends at Brands Hatch and Thruxton have seen Pirelli’s slick and Diablo Rain tyres used with the changing weather. Pirelli has introduced the all new World Superbike derived Diablo Superbike SC1 compound this season, and the tyre has been the chosen option for the victor in all four races so far. Superbike riders are expected to use this option in dry conditions at Oulton Park, a challenging circuit with a good mix of elevation changes through fast sweeping corners.
Following the announcement of Pirell’s 2013 Supplier Awards on 10 April, Tyres & Accessories spoke with Luigi Staccoli, Pirelli’s chief purchasing officer (CPO), to find out more what makes a good supplier.
First, Luigi Staccoli offered his appraisal of the awards event itself: “It was a very successful presentation of the awards with an event demonstrating the performance of Pirelli products running in parallel.” The parallel event is said to have offered representatives of the winning suppliers the opportunity to drive some of the most exciting vehicles available such as the Ferrari California and Lamborghini Galliardo on a test track near Milan.
British prime minister David Cameron visited Pirelli’s factory in Carlisle on Friday 26 April where he met with the chairman and CEO of Pirelli, Marco Tronchetti Provera, as well as Italian Ambassador, Pasquale Terraciano, and chairman of Pirelli Tyres Ltd, Mr Dominic Sandivasci. The prime minister was on a tour to the area as part of his campaigning activities ahead of local elections and incorporated the visit to the Pirelli factory, which in 2011 was awarded a £2 million grant from the Regional Growth Fund.
Avon Motorsport has taken its place alongside Pirelli as one of two tyre companies sponsoring the Time Attack series in 2013. At the first event of the year at Cadwell Park Avon tyres were used to claim the overall fastest lap, a new Time Attack lap record in qualifying, and second place overall in the intensely close Pro Class final, thanks to the Mitsubishi Evo of Gareth Lloyd. Time Attack organiser, Andy Barnes praised Avon for recognising the potential of the championship, and the good fit with the brand’s products provided by the series.
Pirelli & C. SpA shares that Camfin S.p.A., as a Pirelli shareholder and member of the Shareholder Agreement of Pirelli & C., will ask Pirelli’s shareholders at the company’s 13 May Shareholders’ Meeting to confirm Carlo Salvatori as a member of the Pirelli Board (as already proposed by the company’s Board of Directors). It will also request the nomination of Jean Paul Fitoussi and Luca Rovati in place of Mario Greco and Paolo Ferro-Luzzi.
Shortly before Tyres & Accessories visited Van den Ban in late March, the Netherlands-based wholesaler announced plans to enter the truck tyre market. A truck specialist, Hans Bakker, has been appointed to assist Van den Ban in growing this business; Bakker, along with commercial manager Cyril Versteeg, discussed the wholesaler’s plans in relation to truck tyres.
The first four races of this year’s Formula One season have been invariably followed by murmuring about the tyres used, most recently from Red Bull Racing, who despite a Vettel victory in Bahrain called for Pirelli to change its tyres for the remainder of the season. But in an interview with Reuters, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery claimed that the “vast majority” of teams implore the tyre maker not to change anything.
Pirelli describes its new Angel GT sport touring tyre as being “100 per cent Italian Gran Turismo.” Compared with its predecessor it is said to not only offer improved grip and wet performance – as recently demonstrated on the deck of an Italian aircraft carrier – but also to give significantly higher mileage than the Angel ST. During last autumn’s unveiling of Ducati’s Multistrada 1200 S Granturismo, which has the Angel GT as an original equipment fitment, the Italian tyre maker reported a 15 per cent increase in mileage – now, in spring, this figure has doubled to 30 per cent. The editors at Neue ReifenZeitung, Tyres & Accessories’ German affiliate, asked Pirelli to explain why the reported improvement in mileage is suddenly much higher.
Pirelli Tyres Limited has retained its accreditation as an Investor in People (IIP) for another three years after the Italian firm passed an audit that took place in Burton upon Trent and Carlisle. Run by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, Investors in People provides independent assessments to track a company’s progress.
According to a forecast published by IHS Global Insight in April, Russia’s premium car segment is expected to grow 5.2 per cent this year and 8.5 per cent in 2014. Pirelli focuses its strategy on this segment and therefore views Russia as a key market. Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Russian oil and gas company Rosneft, the Italian tyre maker will soon begin construction work on its first flagship ‘PZero Platinum’ tyre shop within the country.
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