Carsales Staff•22 Jun 2013
NEWS
TYRES: Michelin, Continental in prestige brand tyre fight
Tyre turf war breaks out as two of Europe's heavyweight brands stake out the prestige car marketMichelin numbers the Porsche Panamera and the new W222 Mercedes S-Class among its original equipment clients, but Continental is homing in on the prestige OEM market also.
Continental is supplying Mercedes-AMG with ContiSportContact 5 P tyres for some of the high-performance models emanating from the firm based in Affalterbach, Germany. Both A-Class and C-Class models tweaked by AMG will ride on Continental rubber, with the A 45 fitment measuring 235/35 ZR19 and the C 63 shod with the same tyre at the front, but 255/30 ZR19 at the rear.
Recently Continental was given the go-ahead to supply the same tyre as original equipment for the new Maserati Quattroporte.
"These recent approvals from globally renowned sports car manufacturers, Mercedes AMG and Maserati, confirms Continental's leading market position in European original equipment with passenger tyres," said Mitchell Golledge, Marketing Manager for Continental Tyres of Australia.
"This follows on from local fitment approval as well, with the ContiSportContact 5 P to feature on all Holden Special Vehicles, including the new 430 kilowatt GTS, the fastest, most powerful performance production car ever built in Australia."
Word leaked out earlier this week that Michelin will supply tyres for the Porsche Panamera to be launched next month. The famous French tyre brand has been tasked with finding 12 different tyre types for the Panamera, in different sizes and for summer, winter and all-season purposes.
For summer driving Michelin is specifying Pilot Super Sport tyres featuring an aramid fibre belt, bi-compound tread band and 'Variable Contact Patch 2.0', which maintains a consistent contact patch even during harder cornering. The aramid fibre belt aids traction and unsprung weight, the Bi-Compound tread comprises a harder elastomer on the outside of the band to lower wear, with a softer elastomer inside combined with a special tread pattern improves wet weather grip.
Tyre sizes for the Panamera are 255/45 ZR19 at the front and 285/40 ZR19 at the rear. Cars with 20-inch wheels are fitted with tyres measuring 255/40 ZR20 (front) and 295/35 ZR20 (rear).
The winter tyres specified are Pilot Alpin 4, with Ridge-n-Flex design, combining deep grooves and StabiliGrip self-locking sipes for tread-block rigidity and improved steering. A soft rubber compound retains elasticity in low temperatures for optimal grip in wet and icy conditions.
Michelin is providing Pilot Sport A/S Plus tyres for all-season driving conditions – but principally for the North American market.
Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Tags
Mercedes-Benz
Maserati
Porsche
Car News
Performance Cars
Prestige Cars
Tyres
Written byCarsales Staff
Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalists
Related articles
Disclaimer
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Love every move.
Buy it. Sell it.Love it.
®Contact
Advertise with us
Local marketplaces
International marketplaces
Scan to download the carsales app
Want more info? Here’s our app landing page
App Store and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. Google Play and the Google Play logo
are trademarks of Google LLC.