Turkish tyre maker Petlas shares that its Explero PT411 A/S has gained 3PMSF certification, and is thus approved for year-round use in markets where specific winter tyre rules apply. All tyres in the all-season SUV range will henceforth carry the ‘snowflake’ symbol on their sidewalls.
The launch of the BFGoodrich Advantage and BFGoodrich Advantage SUV ranges in 2020 sees the American brand – which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year – renew its entire summer tyre line-up for the UK and Europe. These two ranges offer a wide range of fitments for saloons, hatchbacks and SUVs.
India’s car market leader Maruti Suzuki has unveiled a new concept vehicle ahead of the Auto Expo 2020 show, which begins tomorrow. Called the Concept Futuro-e, the SUV coupe gives a taste of what can be expected from the car maker’s ‘Mission Green Million’ plan to sell a million low emission vehicles in the next few years. Yokohama has developed a BluEarth tyre for the concept.
In the USA, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has introduced the Goodyear Assurance ComfortDrive – an all-season tyre, which is said to offer Goodyear’s most comfortable ride to date.
BFGoodrich has appointed Kevin Burke Tyres (KBT) as its distribution partner in Ireland. KBT will therefore stock “a large selection” of the brand’s tyres throughout the year in its large warehouse facility in Athenry, County Galway.
The combination of political disruption and Brexit uncertainty made 2019 a tough year for the UK economy in general, so it is not surprising to learn that this was reflected in the overall passenger car tyre replacement market. According to the latest sell-out UK tyre replacement market data collated by analysts at GfK, the headline news is that both the value and the volume of the decreased in 2019. But there are reasons for hope, with signs of growth remaining in the value-rich SUV tyre sub-segment and with evidence of strong growth in sales of all-season tyres.
A selection of Cooper 4×4 and high performance tyres equipped tuning company Liberty Walk’s vehicles at the 2020 Autosport International show. Exhibiting in the ‘Performance & Tuning Car Show’, Liberty Walk Europe’s eye-catching stand contained Cooper’s Zeon 4XS Sport and the Cooper Discoverer STT Pro POR.
North West 4×4 Response has made Davanti its tyre partner. The crisis support charity will fit the brand’s all-terrain Terratoura as its official tyre. North West 4×4 Response volunteer drivers use their own 4×4 vehicles to provide access for midwives, firefighters, food and supplies to communities that are difficult to access.
Davanti reports that its strong recent growth “showed no signs of slowing in 2019” as the company launched its Terratoura all-terrain tyre. But, according to the company, Terratoura is just the first of a wave of next-generation projects the brand is working on.
During the last week Elon Musk and Tesla have been busily promoting their latest innovation – the Cyber Truck. The combination of its angular design and hugely powerful drivetrain will certainly turn heads. And, if the initial orders are anything to go by, it is set to be very disruptive in the growing SUV/pickup sector. Indeed, during the first 72 hours after the Cyber Truck’s launch 300,000 vehicles were pre-ordered – enough to put the Cyber Truck in the top 10 for annual US sales.
After three years of close collaboration with Aston Martin’s, the prestige carmaker has announced that it is exclusively fitting the new Aston Martin DBX with a range of three Pirelli tyres. According to the company, the P Zero for the DBX has been developed to offer “the best possible performance and handling”, while the Scorpion Zero AS will go off-road, and the Scorpion Winter delivers “safety and performance even in in winter conditions, with the same dynamic drive as experienced in summer”.
The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) announced its Best New Products Award winners this morning at the 2019 SEMA Show. SEMA’s annual New Product Awards competition recognizes outstanding achievements in the development of products being introduced to the automotive specialty-equipment market at the SEMA Show. Products are judged in 16 award categories, and each category has one winner and two runners-up.
Exclusively available from Micheldever Tyre Services, Comforser purports to offer the discerning SUV driver with a range that signifies great value for money to the consumer. Comforser, is a brand of Shandong New Continent Tire Co. Ltd. According to the company, the manufacturer is committed to building UHP and SUV tyres that deliver “a range that are quiet, comfortable and harnesses outstanding driving performance on- or off-road”.
Auto motor und sport has taken a look at winter tyres for compact SUVs in its latest comparative test. The tyre size it evaluated is 215/55 R17, a dimension worn by the VW T-Roc test vehicle as well as the Audi Q2, Fiat 500x, Hyundai Kona and others. The German magazine’s experts subjected 11 brands of tyre to various tests in wet, dry and snow conditions, with performance in each of these three areas contributing 30 per cent to the final result. The remaining ten per cent came from rolling resistance and tyre/road noise performance.
Drivers of SUVs and crossovers will soon be able to fit their vehicles with tyres based upon the 2018-launched Nokian Powerproof and Wetproof ranges. Nokian Tyres says it developed the Powerproof SUV and Wetproof SUV to meet a “growing demand for premium SUV tyres”. Both products will be available from spring 2020.
