Page 26 - The Tyreman N53 2022-04
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Getting behind the wheel
invited media and Pirelli’s trade partners had the opportunity to evaluate the new tyres and discover its performance in wet and dry braking, quietness and comfort.
the tyre’s comfort and quietness, with which we got behind the wheel of a Toy- ota Alphard and drove around Sepang. It was an impressively comfortable journey; the level of road noise was low and the tyres ran quietly.
Then, we were assigned to Toyota Camry - turato P1 and the other with Cinturato Rosso, for the dry and wet brake tests. We were told to accelerate to 80km/h and hit the brakes as hard as possible until the respective car came to a complete stop so that we could compare the brak- ing distance and tyre performance.
The result? Well, for dry braking, our car that ran on the Cinturato Rosso tyres per- Cinturato P1. The latter came to a complete stop over a distance of 29m in 2.9 seconds while the former achieved a shorter stop- ping distance of 27m in 2.8 seconds. On wet braking, our stopping distance with the Cinturato P1 against the Cinturato Rosso
In line with Pirelli’s aim to develop a ‘local for local’ strategy by adapting its produc-
26 the tyreman 2022/4
tion in function with the typology of re- gional demand, Lopez said the Cinturato Rosso was manufactured by the compa- ny’s plant in China for the Asian market. “The majority of the Asian market needs is supplied by our factory in China. How- ever, we also bring in some products from Europe and Latin America,” he added.
As Pirelli celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, Lopez stressed that the intro- duction of the Cinturato Rosso propelled the Pirelli brand further in the local mar- ket. “Pirelli has established its presence in Malaysia more than 20 years ago and Cinturato Rosso would continue to con- tribute to the growth and market share of Pirelli in Malaysia.”
In times of uncertainty, Lopez shared that the ability to adapt was important. During the Covid-19 outbreak, he said remote working was introduced. Today, Pirelli continued to prioritise the health and well-being of its employees through ensuring workplace safety that complied with the local regulation and standard op- erating procedures (SOPs). Secondly, he stated, the pandemic had disrupted the company’s production and sales.
“We need to keep our production on track for a sales rebound; therefore, we are now working to ensure that our produc- tion could meet the demand. Pirelli’s aim is to become the undisputed segment leader. Thirdly, Pirelli has been going dig- ital for about two years and this allowed products, services and even training. We have launched many commercial activi- ties online, including making our products more accessible to end-users through a digital platform such as Lazada in the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore.”
The Way Ahead
Moving forward, Lopez revealed that Pirelli would continue to focus heavily on the high-value tyre market segment as the company saw growth potential in the sales volume for high-value car tyres (18 inches and above).
“Pirelli is the leader in the prestige car sector with a market share of around 50 per cent. Apart from the sports car and luxury car market segments, we see a rising demand for hybrid and electric cars. Together with leading car man- ufacturers, we have developed Pirelli Elect in line with our Perfect Fit strategy.
