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Linglong Tyres, manufactured by China’s third largest tyre maker, the Shandong Linglong Tyre Co., will exhibit its latest tyre range –Green-Max – at the upcoming Reifen show in Essen. The manufacturer describes this tyre, designed for the UHP segment, as its ultimate summer tyre.
Pirelli has welcomed the plaudits its P Zero tyre received from Auto Express’s recent product awards. Auto Express has been conducting tyre tests in the UK for over a decade, and the magazine’s most recent product awards assessed 10 different tyres on aquaplaning, cabin noise and economy. A former winner in this size, the Pirelli P Zero was named one of the top three with Auto Express stating: “It [the Pirelli P Zero] makes its way into our top three thanks to an excellent performance in the wet tests, comfortably winning the braking and handling disciplines and finishing in the top four in the other categories.”
Despite trends pointing towards ever-increasing rim diameters, tyres for smaller vehicle categories still enjoy strong customer appeal. This is due not only to rising demand in Central Europe but also to the trend towards growing numbers of smaller cars in the compact and medium-size categories. Traditionally strong in the OE business, thus Continental expects a healthy response to its latest summer tyre, the ContiPremiumContact 5.
Test World Oy, the well-known winter tyre and vehicle test operation in Finland has announced plans to build a year-round winter test centre which to fulfil the needs of vehicle and tyre manufacturers. According to the company, the first phase of construction will start in May 2012 and this part of the site will be in operation before the end of the year. The three-phase project to create the 30,000 square metre test centre will be completed by the end of 2015.
Which? magazine published its latest ranking of summer tyres in its April edition. Testing 14” and 16” sizes, the magazine gave rankings to 26 tyre models in total, ranking them out of five for dry and wet braking and handling, wet grip on straights and bends, noise, fuel consumption and wear. It also discussed the impact of energy labels, to be placed on passenger car tyres from November, with a Which?-conducted survey suggesting that most people have yet to hear about the tyre label – the magazine spoke to 1,291 members of the public and 2,742 Which? members and “nine out of 10… weren’t aware of the scheme”. In addition to this, the consumer advice magazine said that “only half the people…who were aware…were able to identify the three ratings that will be included.”
16 tyre dealers from GT Radial’s UK Performance Centres and distributor, Micheldever have braved Arctic conditions to complete winter tyre testing workshops at the company’s Mellatracks Proving Ground in Ivalo, Finland. The tyre professionals travelled to Test World, based several hundred kilometres inside the Arctic Circle in the northernmost area of Finnish Lapland, in order to complete four separate tyre tests in temperatures as low as -15°C. A report of the testing is available in Tyres & Accessories April edition, and on Tyrepress.com below.
Nexen Tyre has received plaudits in a number of recent German motoring magazine tyre tests. According to the company, Nexen was awarded second place in the summer tyre test carried out by promobil, the motorhome magazine, as well as coming 11th out of 50 in the extensive ‘brake’ test carried out by Auto Bild. Auto Bild “sportscars” awarded Nexen with the “recommended” grade and Nexen also scored well at the ADAC.
Following its international debut at the recent Geneva Motor Show, Continental AG officially launched its ContiPremiumContact 5 to the trade in Barcelona today. The tyre, which the company describes as “the perfect all-rounder”, offers 15 per cent better wet braking, an 8 per cent rolling resistance improvement, 5 per cent better noise performance and is in fact 2 -5 per cent better than its predecessor (the ContiPremiumContact 2) in all but one respect.
As you can imagine safety is a key concern for tyre buying consumers all year round, but it is an even more critical influencing factor in the winter months. However, what is interesting to learn from the Michelin research behind the recent Pilot Alpin 4 launch, is that the very same consumers that actively sought out expensive cars that allow them to drive towards their performance limits and tyres that allow them to safely feel the thrill of this experience have a different view when the weather’s cold. In the summer months it seems that it is all systems go, with handling and performance (which Michelin sums up as “control”) the order of the day. In the colder months what Michelin terms “mobility” is amongst the most desired characteristics. The same consumer that was impatient to hit the limits in summer is impatient to hit the road while other drivers are stuck at home in winter.
The comparative tests conducted by German publications carry a lot of weight within the European tyre industry, and therefore manufacturers are keen to spread the word when their products are evaluated favourably. Motorwelt, the magazine distributed to all members of the motoring organisation ADAC, evaluated two sizes of summer passenger car tyre and one 4×4 tyre in its March 2012 edition. Apollo Tyres has already shared news of its 3G Maxx’s performance in the 165/70 R14T class; now Bridgestone reports a strong finish for its Turanza T001 in the size 205/55 R16V category.
Nokian claims a pair of tyre test victories for its summer products; the Nokian Z G2 scored a win in the German Volkswagen and Audi specialist magazine “Gute Fahrt”, while the Nokian H took top honours in the “Auto Zeitung”, which is also published in Germany.
The introduction of tyre labelling will soon be upon us but there are still much work to do when it comes to the implementation and communication of this potentially game-changing legislation. No-one knows exactly what effect the adoption of labels will have on sales, but the communication and brand positioning is well underway.
The latest tyre tests produced by German motoring association ADAC, in partnership with OAMTC (the Austrian equivalent) were dominated by tyres produced by Continental. But there were also surprisingly strong performances from emerging and second line brands such as Apollo and Barum set against a disappointing result for Infinity.
Kumho recently introduced the Solus KL21 all-season tyre for on-road use as a way of extending the company refers to as its range for all seasons. Available in top-selling sizes such as 235/65 R17 and 235/60 R18, this street terrain tyre is designed to deliver wet traction combined with low noise and rolling resistance. The KL21 is extensively fitted by Hyundai and Kia to their latest SUV models and has recently been approved for fitment to the new Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Following the news of changes within the top management, Kraiburg’s new product manager, Helmut Schmitt, gave his support to the company’s new managing director. The 45-year-old – who joined Kraiburg in Geretsberg at the end of last year – has been working in the tyre industry for 13 years. His experience includes time as regional sales manager truck tyres at Michelin. After that he built up Germany-wide sales and product management for new truck tyres at Hankook. Schmitt’s remit is to look after further development of the tread programme at the retreading specialist.
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