Continental Unveils Conti.eContact Concept Tire in Frankfurt
Posted on September 16, 2011
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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?
Posted on September 15, 2011
Filed Under Bridgestone Tires, Interesting, Pirelli Tires | Leave a Comment
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
Posted on September 12, 2011
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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.
Yokohama Tire-Makers Make Use of Orange Peels
Posted on September 8, 2011
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It happens that creatively made tires can be worse of being showcased at Boston Science Museum. The hallmark of its current exposition is new Yokohama BlueEarth-1 tire made from peculiar rubber compound including orange peel oil. The “Making a Greener Tire” stand is situated in the part of museum dedicated to renewable energy and nano-technologies.
The new tire is made from Super Nano-Power Rubber (SNPR) featuring silica, natural rubber and oil derived from orange peels. The technology was first used for the company’s dB Super E-spec tire. It helps reduce the use of petrochemicals in tire-making industry at the same time providing for the tire’s lower rolling resistance.
Now Yokohama is the only world-wide company to make their tire from orange peels. Yasushi Tanaka, Yokohama president, is glad about the exposition for it promotes eco-friendly approach to technology development. Moreover, the exposition is housed at the Science museum, the leading educational and cultural center of the world.
Yokohama BlueEarth-1 tire is a part of the company’s BlueEarth philosophy that aims at eco-friendly production with minimum harm inflicted on the environment, society and people. The company’s strives to make people understand the essence “green” technologies as well as draws people’s attention to environmental problems.
Yokohama BlueEarth-1 is already available in Japan and Europe while the USA will see it in 2012. The tire is aimed at use with hybrid cars and other efficient vehicles like Toyota Prius, MINI Cooper, VW Golf and Jetta.
