Pirelli Tire North America gave select dealers and trade media the chance to check out its newest tire – the Scorpion Verde All-Season Plus – mid-November in Austin, Texas.
The tire is Pirelli’s most recent attempt to take a product developed for OE fitment and tweak it slightly to fit consumer needs in the replacement market. The approach is one the tiremaker employed last year with the launch of the Cinturato P7 All-Season Plus.
“The strategy of having an OE product that is clearly perfect for the car and a replacement version that is derived from the OE but gives what the replacement market really wants – which is mileage and well-rounded performance – is working well,” said Paolo Ferrari, PTNA chairman and CEO.
The tiremaker has already seen significant sales with Cinturato P7 All-Season Plus, launched this time last year, and all the tire sizes haven’t been rolled out yet, he said.
Ferrari said while the OE tires provide the best performance for the cars they’re fitments to, there is always someone who will complain about mileage or some other performance attribute. Replacement versions of OE tires are intended to address those issues, but there is often a big performance gap. Pirelli feels its replacement version of the Verde All-Season Plus closes that gap.
The new Verde All-Season Plus, designed for the growing SUV and CUV segment, is aimed to provide one all-season tire that further improves the high performance characteristics of the Scorpion Verde All-Season.
One way Pirelli has been able to make enhancements is through tailoring the polymers used in the tire, said Steve Carpino, vice president of research and development. The Verde All-Season Plus utilizes a new compound that provides a well-balanced tire with performance, handling and mileage.
The tire’s compound as well as a larger contact patch offers increased mileage, with a 65,000-mile treadwear warranty, for the Verde All-Season Plus, Carpino said. The tire also features other “green” attributes including a 5% reduction in raw materials and a 20% reduction in rolling resistance, improving the tire’s fuel efficiency, he said.
Riccardo Cichi, vice president of sales, quantified what the reduced fuel consumption could mean for the consumers. The reduced rolling resistance cuts fuel consumption by 3%-4%, and 4% of 65,000 miles is roughly 2,600 miles. With a vehicle averaging 21 miles per gallon, that car would need roughly 124 gallons to cover those 2,600 miles. With gas trading at an average of $3.84 per gallon, that 4% equals a $476 in savings during the lifetime of the tire, he said.
Additionally, the Verde All-Season Plus has reduced road noise, up to 7% less than previous generations, Carpino said. The tire also offers strong wet and dry handling and aquaplaning resistance when driving straight or on curves due to wide longitudinal grooves.
A first for the tiremaker is a 30-day satisfaction guarantee on the new Verde All-Season Plus, Cichi said. If there are any problems or any issues you can come back and change them, with the only stipulation is its replaced with another Pirelli product.
Prielli, which recently invested lot of money in geomarketing, will utilize such tools when promoting the Verde All-Season Plus. Promotion for the tire will be both online and in print and targets specific zip codes, Ferrari said.
The replacement tire is available in five sizes currently, with the launch of additional fitments coming after the first of the year. The size range for the tire includes fitments from 16 to 22 inches and covers 65% of CUVs and SUVs.
Examples of key replacement fitments for the tire include, the Acura MDX, Audi Q5, Ford Edge and Escape, GMC Yukon, the Infiniti FX35 and FX37, the Toyota Highlander and more.
