Tyre News

Pirelli is title sponsor of this weekend’s F1 racing in Imola, and as such was tasked with supplying the race trophies for the Gran Premio del Made in Italy e dell’Emilia Romagna. The tyre maker turned to artist Alice Ronchi to supply the creativity, selecting her for this project on the back of prior collaboration with Pirelli HangarBicocca, the non-profit foundation dedicated to the production and promotion of contemporary art set up within a converted warehouse in Milan in 2004.

WhatTyre’s inaugural Tyre of the Year Awards are designed to celebrate the best tyres currently available for the biggest group of drivers. We have focused on the tyres that offer the best performance characteristics for regular drivers: the commuters getting to work and home in the busiest traffic, parents operating taxi services for their children, older drivers for whom motoring means extended independence, holidaymakers travelling (when possible again) to destinations in the UK, or in neighbouring countries, and the key workers, whose physical presence is required to do their jobs no matter what. Our winners, highly recommended finalists, and commended nominees all offer proven performance that leads the other 95 per cent-plus of tyres available for the cars most commonly driven in the UK.

Electric car tyres and tyres designed to offer greater fuel efficiency contain some of the tyre industry’s most advanced technology. Supporting fast growth in primarily battery-powered electric cars as well as car-maker’s legal obligation to produce more fuel-efficient combustion powered vehicles, tyre manufacturers have developed increasingly eco-friendly products for original fitment. More electric cars on the road means more demand for replacement tyres that perform similarly well. Our nominations process for this category set very high expectations for such products. We demanded comparatively high fuel efficiency and low noise alongside performance and safety characteristics in one of three sizes for Europe’s top-selling electric cars.

The UK tyre market’s interest in winter tyres may not be high, but there are many excellent products available, as WhatTyre’s list of “Commended” winter tyre products proves. While the UK’s moderate winter climate, the need to store a spare set of tyres (and wheels) year-round, the inconvenience of a seasonal tyre change twice a year, and the increasing quality of all-season tyres are all understandable reasons for not fitting winter tyres, the fact remains that if we are considering performance and safety above all else, specialist winter tyres will help you get the most out of your car when temperatures drop. Below, we crown our 2021 winner, and run down the other models we highly recommend.

When looking at the 13 nominees for our What Tyre summer Tyre of the Year category, it quickly became apparent that our TyreScore had done its job superbly. It also serves us well when identifying the category finalists, all of which bring together high levels of performance, safety and economy/mileage in various combinations. Our five finalists are taken from the three top summer tyre sizes in the UK (205/55 R16, 225/45 R17, 195/55 R15), and we set a TyreScore of 8 as a minimum prerequisite. A test win or a recommendation of ‘good’ or better in a 2020/21 tyre test is also a must have.

All-season tyres are growing in popularity on the UK and European roads so, following the announcement of our WhatTyre all-season tyre of the year nominations, we are excited as anyone to learn the identities of the top five tyres in our database of over 250,000 variations.