At the beginning of April the presentation of Toyo’s new winter tyre, Snowprox S950, took place in Rovaniemi, Finland. The new product was already introduced to the market at the end of last year. The S950 covers the 55- up to the 40-series and has been released in 15 dimensions (from 185/55 R 15 up to 215/40 R 16). For the coming winter season five additional sizes in the 17-inch-sector and with a V speed index are planned.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company introduces its newest addition to its line of tyres – the Lifeliner Touring SLE (Sport Luxury Edition). The product offers optimized tread compound to balance wear and wet/winter traction. It is equipped with optimized bead contour, as well, for a more uniform fit to the rim and an improved ride quality. Offset shoulder slots bvreak up tire pitch harmonics, allowing for a more quiet ride. The Touring SLE is offered in three separate speed ratings: T, H and V.
Two years ago, Pirelli launched its “Winter Snowsport”, a tyre with an asymmetric tread pattern, for sports cars and high-powered saloons. The same technological basis from which the Winter Snowsport was created has enabled Pirelli to offer two new products, extending the same guarantee of safety that Snowsport gives to top-of-the-range cars, to other important motoring segments. On a glacier in Iceland, Pirelli launched the two new products. With 21 sizes for 13″ to 15″ diameter rims, the Q- and T-rated new directional “Winter Snowcontrol” will be available in all European markets. The tyre offers performance in all winter conditions, particularly on ice and snow, to all drivers of cars in the medium to medium-low segment. “Scorpion Ice&Snow” is an asymmetric winter tyre specially developed for sport utility and recreational vehicles, which provides excellent performance on ice and snow and is highly versatile on snow-covered off-road surfaces. The tyre is based on the Scorpion concept for the 4×4 market and will be available in nine sizes from 15 to 18 inches (8x T-rated, 1x H-rated).
Cooper-Avon has introduced another two new tyres to its range of products available in Europe. First of these is the Lifeliner Touring SLE (Sport Luxury Edition) and it is the first premium touring tyre from Cooper to be available in three speed ratings; T, H and V. The second product is the Discoverer M+S, which is a winter tyre made in Findlay Ohio, but designed for European roads. It features a number of pin holes for those countries where studded tyres are acceptable.
Tyre manufacturer Continental is producing a special edition of its WinterContact TS 790 V tyre exclusively for Porsche. The tyre – already mounted on the rim – will be distributed in Germany by Porsche dealers only.
Dunlop GmbH (Hanau) expects further turnover and profit increases in the 1999 tyre business. Turnover will rise by almost ten per cent over the previous year to 1.64 billion marks. The pre-tax group profit will be significantly above the 1998 level of 133 million marks. The good business development is due to consistently strong demand for Dunlop tyres both in original equipment and in replacement. High winter tyre sales figures also contribute to this development, representing approximately 20 p.c. in Dunlop’s total German production. Dunlop 1999 winter tyre sales will probably have gone up by 16 p.c. over 1998. Since 1994 Dunlop GmbH has doubled its car tyre sales. During the last few years the Hanau tyre manufacturer has made progress in the high-performance tyre segment far above the market average, and the company operates a profit-sharing scheme for its employees. Against the industry trend, the Dunlop payroll has increased by almost 21 p.c. since 1991, with the number of people working for Dunlop GmbH at the end of November 1999 reaching almost 5,000. If one leaves out the former subsidiary Dunlop TECH, which ceased to belong to the contributing members of the Dunlop GmbH group in the middle of last year, the figure is similar to that of the previous year.
It has almost become a tradition by now: Once a year the German subsidiary of Japanese car manufacturer Mazda invites the trade press to a winter test/system comparison. The journalists attending in Saas Fee in the Swiss canton of Valais were asked to perform a number of driving tests under various conditions. The necessary winter tyres and know-how were provided by workshop partner Continental, and the computer-aided evaluation of the results of these practical tests was handled by representatives from TÜV Rheinland/Berlin-Brandenburg. The most important part of the workshop results was: On snow and ice winter tyres are absolutely indispensable! The tendencies worked out in theory were generally confirmed but, contrary to expectation, no significant difference in handling was discernible between front and rear drive. Similarly, the two front-driven vehicles – whether on TCS or ESP – ended up with nearly the same result. But brake tests with ABS did demonstrate the expected differences in the performance of winter and summer tyres, with the average traction quotient of 88 p.c. (winter tyre = 100 p.c.) for a front-driven summer tyre, however, considerably higher than the 76 p.c. estimated by the group.
Never before so many winter tyres were sold in Germany. The dealers association BRV estimated 17 million units (= +15.3%) for 1999. Also the aftermarket in summer tyres was in plus (+0.9%) with 23 million in total.
Sandra Farmand has won the Snowboard World Cup. Farmand is the promotional star for the “Pirelli Winter Snowsport” winter tyre.
According to the German tyre dealers association BRV (Bundesverband Reifenhandel und Vulkaniseur-Handwerk), in 1999 more than 50 million tyres were sold in the German replacement market, 43 million of them in the passenger car sector. Especially, a new record in winter tyres sales was achieved. Sales in the commercial vehicle sector increased five p.c. to 5.7 million tyres. Whereas retreaded truck tyre sales were stable at 1.7 million units, the fall in sales of retreaded passenger car tyres continued.
Cooper-Avon Tyres Limited will be exhibiting a number of flagship products from both its Avon and Cooper brands at the “Reifen 2000” international exhibition in Essen, Germany from 20-23 June. For the motorcycle market the company will be unveiling for the first time the “Azaro” with Avon’s variable belt density (VBD) technology. Furthermore two new winter tyres – “CR75″ and CR85” – will make their debuts at the show as well as the new 4×4 tyre named “Ranger H”.
In the autumn “Snowprox S950” will be available in 55/50/45/40-series. According to Toyo, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in Germany this year, the new winter tyre has (compared with its predecessor “M+S 920”) improved its performance dramatically.
As the 14th annual meeting of the German tyre dealers association announced, the turnover of passenger car tyres increased 44 p.c. over the previous year. Responsible for this positive development was the winter tyre segment which increased 14.8 p.c. to 17 million pieces. In spring 2000 43 percent of all passenger cars had been equipped with winter tyres. This year the association expects – in contradiction to the positive prognosis – a stagnant market. Reason: the bad results in the passenger car sector during the first months of this year.
The first Cooper winter tyre designed specifically for the Alpine market is to be manufactured at Cooper-Avon Tyres’ Melksham (United Kingdom) plant. The “Weather-Master SiO2” will be available in 15 T-rated and 11 H-rated sizes this autumn.
At the INTERMOT – the international exhibition for motorcycles in Munich – the German Tyre Manufacturer Reifenwerk Heidenau has introduced a winter tyre for Scooters. For higher grip under winter conditions, the so-called “Snowtex” features textile fibres in the tread which emerge from the rubber surface after 300 to 600 kilometres driving. Therefore Heidenau suggests changing to winter tyres some weeks before the cold part of the year begins.
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