Continental Unveils Conti.eContact Concept Tire in Frankfurt
A ten-day automotive exhibition in Frankfurt opens its doors this week, September 15-25, to show off the newest tires of the coming season as well as explore non-standard ideas. For instance, the Continental unveils a concept tire for electric cars.
Continental launches a lot of tires this year, all of them differing in the sphere of application yet they are united by low rolling resistance and eco-friendly character. The Cont.eContact tire shows reduced rolling resistance as well thanks to its innovative design and narrower tread.
The company also promises long mileage with this tire. The Cont.eContact is also optimized towards driving over non-asphalted surfaces, which makes it possible to use electric cars equipped with this tire outside city streets.
At the same time Continental ContiEcoContact 5 will be exhibited in Frankfurt. This is a successful eco-friendly tire delivering effective braking on water film. It was first unveiled in 2011 and suits mounting on compact and medium-sized cars.
Another important tire at the Continental stand in Frankfurt is their ContiSportContact 5 tire known for exceptionally good handling and reliable braking coupled with low rolling resistance to reduce fuel consumption of powerful sporty vehicles.
Will Demand for Premium-Class Tire Grow?
Several years ago tire experts pointed to the phenomenon of desegmentation on the tire market, the situation, when cheap tire are highly in demand. Now, when the financial crisis is almost gone, premium-class tires are more and more frequently asked.
All in all, the demand for premium-class tire on the European market has grown by 5 per cent while at the same time In North America it dropped down by 2 per cent. The growth is more visible in truck tire segment rather than among passenger tires. Still, the coming fall with show the true state of things.
Bridgestone say that they didn’t manage to satisfy the demand for 500,000 passenger tires on the OE Japanese market. Two month ago the same statement was brought out by Renault Company. That’s why the analytics think that there’s no need to worry about prices on tires as they are in demand now.
Market tendencies may lead as well to a certain decline in sale amounts. Such predictions are caused by concerns about the reduction in gross domestic product in Europe rather than about the state of tire-making companies.
However, tire market is changeable and new tendencies appear. For instance, the experts are sure that the demand for premium-class replacement tire will grow in the nearest time, which is the consequence of increasing demand for premium-class cars.
Pirelli has already claimed that they are going to sell more premium-class tire this season than standard ones. Morgan Stanley experts agree with the company and point to the fact that it is the best situation for the company to benefit from the world-wide tendency for premium tires.
Bridgestone Ecopia EP150 Conquer the Alps
Electric cars and eco-friendly tires go side by side and set new distance records together. For instance, Nissan Leaf has recently run about 3 hundred miles in frames of an e-Miglia rally where 25 cars were competing. The car once received the “European car of the Year 2011” title while this time it proved its high-performance mobility with the help of Bridgestone Ecopia EP150 “green” tire.
The e-Miglia rally began in Munich from where the participants made a 500-mile journey through 4 countries to reach St. Moritz. The race lasted 4 days.
Nissan Leaf vehicle form the GreenSource Team Holland team came only the 17th, still it made the Leaf one of the best among four-door cars. The car was driven by Marc de Jong, Pure Sports Management director. He concludes that both the car and the tire were enjoyable. It was fun to go over mountain passes and soil roads, to drive on smooth highways and soft surfaces, rain or shine. The tire showed its best during the competition, he maintains.
Bridgestone Ecopia EP150 comes as Original Equipment for Nissan Leaf, the first electric car put to the mass market.
Ecopia is Bridgestone family of eco-friendly tires designed to reduce rolling resistance of vehicles they are used with. At the same time, the operational features don’t suffer and the tires deliver equal excellence in terms of both dry and wet traction. At the same time, the EP150 tire stands out of the crowd as it is made from NanoPro-Tech that helps lower fuel consumption. If the tire is used with an electric or hybrid car the compound provides for economic battery use.
Michelin Bibendum Knows Everything You Need
Michelin site users have been recently provided with an interesting option. Now they can talk with the company’s symbol “in private.” The symbol, a funny character called Bibendum, can answer any of your questions connected with the company’s history, the stages of its formation and development as well as can tell you the news of the company.
Michelin Man speaks English and French, both being the company’s official languages. He can not only speak about the company but also helps the customers effectively use the site and find all the necessary information.
Bibendum has been Michelin symbol since 1898. The company claims that there’s nobody who can give you more info about Michelin, its history, department and plants. The system works on the base of artificial intellect and is capable of self-education, which means that it “learns” with every new talk session.
The chat bot was created in collaboration with French VirtuOz company specializing in smart virtual advisers and the Cartoche organization dealing with video interfaces. Bibendum developers maintain that it is a more advanced system in comparison with its counterparts. The main argument for it is a talk length. In general bots can speak with you for three minutes while Bibendum will talk with you for as much as seven minutes.
Michelin are proud of the fact that Bibendum is appreciated by a number of people all over the world and many of them like to engage into a friendly talk with him. Moreover, the customers can ask him questions about his “private life,” hobbies and interests and, of course, eating habits.
