Pirelli Debuts New 30-inch Tires at New York Auto Show
Do you think 22- or 24-inch diameter tires are large? Pirelli recently unveiled the world’s first 30-inch, ultra-high-performance production tire, designed specifically for light trucks and SUVs (a prototype 315/30R30 Hankook tire, mounted on a 30-inch Asanti wheel, was showcased in Hankook Tire America Corp.’s booth at the 2005 Specialty Equipment Market Association Show).
Pirelli CEO and President Guy Mannino commented that the 315/30R30 Scorpion Zero Asimmetrico is the flagship of the brand’s light truck and SUV tire range.
“The 30-inch Scorpion Zero is not about selling huge volumes; it’s more about satisfying a highly visible niche opportunity and making a statement in the marketplace. Our past initiatives in this product area have driven huge interest in ‘plus’ sizing on light trucks, to a point where 22-inch tires can almost be considered the norm.
“For sure, we attract plenty of imitators! However, it’s a little like the fashion business — haute couture drives the mainstream fashion trend, and it’s entirely appropriate that the 30-inch Pirelli Scorpion is the haute couture of light truck tires.”
The 315/30R30 is fabricated at Pirelli’s MIRS (Modular Integrated Robotized System) facility in (fittingly) Rome, Georgia, and features Pirelli’s exclusive “Double Z” tread design. The tire-maker said it “provides maximum dry traction along with total wet traction capabilities.”
As part of the New York International Auto Show presentation, one that included the debut of the new three-piece “Thirty” wheel from Twenty Inches Strong (TIS), comprised of an A356 aircraft aluminum material cast centre and two 6061 material aluminum-spun rim shells, further secured by high-strength M10 chrome-plated aircraft bolts and nuts, the tires were shown on a Hummer H2 owned by pro skate boarder and MTV personality Bam Margera. According to TIS President Myles Kovacs, Thirty wheels are valued at a cool $150,000 for the set.
Pirelli was recently chosen by Ford Motor Company as a strategic marketing partner, so therefore a number of blue-oval models, including a Five Hundred, Freestyle, Focus, F-150 and new Edge crossover were fitted with the Italian brand’s rubber. Also, Pirelli’s oddly named Eufori@ run-flat radials underpinned Cadillac’s STS-V and XLR-V models at the NYIAS.
No doubt, many news hounds hung out at the Pirelli counter just to get their hands on one of the tire-maker’s ultra-hot calendars, a favourite of, ahem, car enthusiasts.