Forecasters are confident of a white Christmas this year, and with cold weather headed our way ATS Euromaster warns that fleet managers must make a considered choice for their tyres to keep their car and van drivers safe while keeping costs low.
Some industry observers assumed that the CrossClimate, the Michelin summer tyre certified for winter use, would blow away the competition in this year’s spate of all-season tyre tests. However results from the Auto Bild test published last week (issue 39/2015) show this not to be the case – a new tyre from former all-season segment top dog Goodyear dominated the results.
Michelin states that the CrossClimate, its new winter-certified summer tyre, is the company’s “most important innovation for a decade.” Earlier today we reported that several fleet operators have chosen the CrossClimate for their vehicles. Michelin now shares that ‘blue light’ fleet managers across the UK have participated in a CrossClimate demonstration at the MIRA proving ground in Warwickshire, and it says the emergency service operators’ reactions were positive.
The CrossClimate, Michelin’s winter-certified summer tyre, has been on the market in Europe since May – and the French tyre maker says it is doing well. A recent Michelin newsletter reported the sale of the millionth CrossClimate tyre just two months after the range’s introduction, and word from Michelin at this week’s IAA show in Frankfurt is that 2015 sales targets for the CrossClimate will most likely be exceeded by more than 30 per cent.
Britain’s largest energy provider, British Gas, plans to fit Michelin CrossClimate tyres to its fleet of 13,000 commercial vehicles. It will ask OEMs to supply CrossClimate tyres on its new vehicles where possible, and all replacement tyres will be fitted by ATS Euromaster.
On 2 March, at the sidelines of the Geneva Motor Show, Michelin launched its CrossClimate tyre. You could be forgiven for calling this tyre as an “all-season” product, however Michelin executives are emphatic that it is not one. Instead it is being pitched as something of a paradigm shift – both for the the French manufacturer, which has repeatedly positioned itself as a staunch supporter of seasonal summer/winter swaps, and for the market in general. Instead Michelin is positioning the CrossClimate as a tyre tuned for European markets with more temperate climates. The United Kingdom and its growing all-season tyre market is undoubtedly one region the tyre maker has in mind for the CrossClimate, however the strategy and the implications of it latest offering go far wider than just the UK alone.
ATS Euromaster welcomed the launch of Michelin’s CrossClimate tyre range – calling the product a game-changer for UK fleets and coming that it is working to secure stocks across its centres for the official May 2015 launch.
Pitched as the first summer car tyres to be certified for winter use, ATS Euromaster says the tyres will be “ideally suited to the UK fleet sector, where unexpected weather changes and occasional snowfall can cause havoc for company car drivers – resulting in costly business interruption, reduced mobility, plus an increased risk of accidents.”
A major announcement from Michelin on the sidelines of the Geneva Motor Show represents something of a ‘revolution’ and paradigm shift for the French manufacturer: The traditionally staunch supporter of seasonal summer/winter tyre swaps has released the CrossClimate, a European-market tyre intended for year-round fitment.
