Michelin

Amongst the many highlights of this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed is the fully-electric Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance. The Porsche test vehicle is equipped with Michelin tyres that also push the boundaries of sustainability, containing no less than 53 per cent biosourced and recycled raw materials.

The next few years will see an explosion in the replacement tyre fitment options available to electric car drivers. Sales of electric cars (EVs) in the UK and Europe are set to continue to accelerate up to deadlines dictating the end of new internal combustion engine-powered (ICE) cars into the next decade. For the replacement tyre market – the tyres bought at garages to replace the tyres originally fitted to the car from new – the effects of this will gradually become more important over the next five years.

WhatTyre’s inaugural Tyre of the Year awards in 2021 proved to be so popular that they are back again this year with more categories and an even more thorough qualifying procedure. So, if you want to know the top 15 SUV tyres, keep reading over the next few weeks.

Michelin has once again topped the tyre table within Brand Finance’s ranking of the world’s strongest and most valuable brands. This calculation doesn’t include everything but Michelin achieved a brand value of US$7.7 billion and a brand strength index score of 85.8 out of 100. And what’s more, the 2022 result saw Michelin extend its lead over second-placed Bridgestone.

Michelin is an official tyre supplier for the Ferrari 296 GTB and will supply two different sets of rubber – the predominantly road-oriented Pilot Sport 4S K1 and the road legal Pilot Sport Cup 2R K2 for “drivers wishing to push the limits of their car on track.”

Performance car magazine Auto Bild Sportscars has evaluated a dozen brands in its 2021 winter tyre test and also looked at an all-season tyre and a summer tyre for comparative purposes. It chose the front axle size 225/45 R18 and rear size 245/40 R18, testing these on a Mercedes C-Class for performance in dry, wet and snowy conditions.

Everyone who tested Uptis at this month’s IAA Mobility 2021 “unanimously approved” the prototype airless tyres, says Michelin. This is a lofty claim and hard to verify, but Michelin does provide some evidence in a short video featuring automotive influencer Mr JWW and enigmatic car enthusiast Gercollector.

Demand for all-season tyres has shot up since Michelin launched its initial CrossClimate in 2015. 27 million all-season car and SUV tyres were sold in Europe in 2020, up from 11.2 million in 2015. As demand has grown, so the product has evolved. For example, the new CrossClimate 2 offers a 10 per cent reduction in rolling resistance when compared to its best-selling predecessor thanks to a Cool Running Sidewall designed to improve fuel efficiency or electric vehicle battery range...” amongst other enhancements.

Everyone loves a sports car, especially a Ferrari. But when the new Ferrari 296 GTB came out on Thursday 24 June 2021, we were asking what tyres were responsible for carrying the Italian super sports car to 100 km/h in 2.9 seconds?