Scorpion Winter gets top marks on snow

Oct. 7, 2012

The Scorpion Winter tire, launched by Pirelli Tyre SpA seven months ago, has been given top marks for reliability and safety by the prestigious TÜV SÜD certification body.

(Pirelli Tire North America Inc. introduced the tire to the North American market in August.)

The independent certification body put Pirelli’s latest winter tire to the test against four key rivals, with the Scorpion Winter emerging as best in class when it came to performance on snow, thanks to superior traction, braking and roadholding.

Scorpion Winter scored full marks in all these tests. "It was particularly impressive in the test for handling and braking on snow, decelerating from 50 kph to 10kph in 25.5 meters," according to Pirelli (that's 32 mph to 6.2 mph in close to 83 feet).

In the test for traction on compact snowy surfaces, Pirelli’s new winter tire allowed the test vehicle to accelerate from 10 kph to 40 kph in 2.32 seconds.

The results registered by TÜV SÜD have highlighted the key characteristics of the new Scorpion Winter, developed by Pirelli to maximize traction on snow and optimize driving precision, while guaranteeing high safety standards through corners and on straights in autumn and winter.

The tires used throughout the comparative test were bought directly by TÜV SÜD Automotive from dealers and wholesalers, in order to guarantee complete impartiality. "Consumer Reports" buys the tires that it tests in the same way.

In its November issue, "CR" compared 16 winter tires in nine categories. However, the Pirelli Scorpion Winter was not among them. The Pirelli Winter 210 Sottozero Serie II finished fourh (see "Almost a clean sweep: Michelin dominates the latest 'Consumer Reports' report.")

The TÜV SÜD Group is an independent certification, inspection, testing and training body withbranches all over the world. It is active in the consumer, energy, environmental and safety sectors.