Pirelli Prepares New P Zero OE Tire for the Replacement Market

March 2, 2016

"Pirelli has devoted 100% of its booth at the Geneva Auto Show to its new P Zero brand." Those were the comments by Matteo Battaini, head of marketing and supply chain for Pirelli & Cie SpA.

In reality, Pirelli did not "launch" the new P Zero at the show. Instead, the company announced that the new tires have 56 original equipment homologations. At the replacement level, the P Zero, in three versions designed for three different types of vehicles, will be introduced to the media soon.

More specifically, Pirelli chose the 2016 Geneva Auto Show to showcase its presence in the "prestige" and "premium" segments of the European car market. In the premium segment, Pirelli's Gregorio Borgo, director of general operations, told assembled media that his company had 51% of the prestige vehicle fitments and 32% of the premium vehicle fitments.

Pirelli considers vehicles such as Lamborgani, McLaren, Ferrari, Pagani and other exotic vehicles as prestige Most BMWs, some Porches and Audis are examples of premium vehicles.

Borgo said these two segments are growing at a much faster rate than standard fitments, and those are the areas where Pirelli wants to compete. He pointed to research in Europe that prestige vehicles are growing at seven times the rate of standard vehicles, while premium vehicles are growing at three times the rate.

Another study in Europe showed that although 84% of consumers do not know what an OE homologated tire was, once the difference was explained to them, 46% of them said they would pay more for that tire and 32% said they may pay more.

The P Zero lineup currently has 500 items available in it with 800 homologations achieved. The company says it has already sold 80 million P Zero tires worldwide, and it is projecting another 20 million tires to be sold by 2018.

When the  new P Zero tires enter the line-up, Pirelli does not intend to quit producing the previous P Zero tire lines. In fact, Borgo thinks there will be a 50/50 split between the new and old P Zeros in 2017, with the new tires then outpacing the older tires moving beyond that timeframe.

The philosophy that Pirelli was promoting may best be summed up this way. Borgo said 20% of the company's volume, 45% of its turnover and 64% of its EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) with 18-inch and above tire sizes.

For more information on the P Zero, check out this link:

"A Sneak Peek at the New Pirelli P Zero lines."

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