Lassa Phenomena, high performance tyre for sporty drivers

Lassa Phenomena, high performance tyre for sporty drivers Lassa introduces Phenoma, the company s sport tyre, engineered particulary to meet all the sportive needs of passionate driving enthusiasts and high demanding fans who want ultra-high performance as driving conditions change. The most dynamic and remarkable member of Lassa family, Phenoma is created to represent the Lassa brand at its best with the technology, design and concept its behind. Also the latest in Lassa s ultra high performance summer tyre line up, Phenoma, with its excellent performance and its attractive appearance is ready to rise and shine as a popular choice in sport and prestige segment for upper class automobiles and tuning vehicles. Phenoma has been developed by the Research and Development Centre of Brisa based on the know-how gained from the experiences of award winning Lassa Rally Team since 2002. Engineers incorporated a new high-tech tread compound into Phenoma in order to increase its traction and handling capabilities on both dry and wet road surfaces. With its maximized contact surface along with reinforced shoulders and sidewalls, it has extraordinary cornering performance and high speed stability. Its racing-drived state-of-the-art technology also significantly enhances its cornering response and breaking performance, resulting in excellent driving control, reliability and safety. The TÜV-SÜD, German Automotive testing authority also tested the tyre against 4 competitors and approved its outperforming total road performance result. According to the tests, the dry braking distance is 2.9m shorter, the dry handling performance is better up to two per cent the lateral wet performance is three per cent better and the wet handling performance is five per cent better than the competitors. Phenoma delivers eight per cent better rolling resistance as well. Phenoma is available in 11 popular sizes ranging from 16 to 18 inches in diameter for upper class automobile drivers who have sportive driving habits. The Phenomena tyre the most dynamic and remarkable member of Lassa product range. Phenoma s Story In 2009, Lassa has been preparing to launch its most premium product ever. This product was a brand new sport segment tyre, designed to deliver ultra high performance for passionate driving enthusiasts. Such a tyre deserved a name as strong as the features it possesses, for which a competition was launched on a website that is followed by designers internationally. The competition had a record participation that reached a total of 3,000 participants. Phenoma, abbreviated from the English word, Phenomenal and Phenomenon was chosen, best representing the characteristics of this new tyre: The most dynamic and remarkable product of Lassa product range. We offer a prestigious and different product, Phenoma which will allure all the passionate driving enthusiasts. It is specially engineered in order to deliver all currently available benefits of the latest Lassa tyre technologies in terms of maximum wet and dry performance, excellent driving characteristics and safety. It also completes Lassa product portfolio with a new category of sport segment said Mr Halit Şensoy, Director of Lassa International Sales and Marketing. About LASSA: Produced by BRISA, LASSA manufactures and sells a wide range of consumer and commercial tyres in over 50 countries worldwide together with 74 international partners at 5,000 points of sale. Tested and approved by German TÜV SÜD Automotive, one of Europe s leading testing and certification organizations, the products of LASSA tyres earned the endorsements of several leading global automotive manufacturers operating in Turkey, i.e. Isuzu, Mercedes, Ford, Land Rover, Hyundai, John Deere, Tofas-Fiat, Karsan, Otokar, Mitsubishi, Temsa, TTF-Case New Holland. Producing durable and high-quality tyres for the drivers, requiring both safety and performance as well as expecting maximum value for the money from their tyre choice, LASSA has strong commitment to sustainability which resonates throughout all of its business activities. (oth) 128 AutoRäderReifen - Gummibereifung 06 2012

Pirelli Top vehicles in Pirelli style Just as last year, the Formula 1 race bolides were the main attraction at the Pirelli trade fair booth. Moreover, Pirelli s premium tyres were represented at several booths of the automotive industry. The Pirelli P Zero family was well presented by several car manufacturers at the Motor Show. The Formula 1 race bolide was the eye-catcher at the Pirelli booth. One of the most spectacular newcomers, among others the most powerful Ferrari ever, the new Berlinetta F12, Aston Martin Zagato and Bentley V8, were presented with Pirelli P Zero. Apart from the P Zero family, huge attention was also paid to the Pirelli lines Cinturato, Scorpion and Winter at the Motor Show. The Milan products showed themselves at their very best at several booths of well-known car manufacturers. P Zero Silver The P Zero Silver, the latest product of the P Zero family, was in the focus of attention. It benefits from the technology and model forms of the current Pirelli Formula 1 tyres and was developed for coupés and saloons of the top segment. The range of vehicles goes from Audi A5 to Mercedes CLS. The P Zero Silver is the first special series of Pirelli tyres which can even after long distances guarantee a maximum of performance. Both the Silver and the Formula 1 tyres share both calculating and model development processes. It is characterized by the performance of the P Zero and a long life span. The P Zero Silver is produced in 11 sizes for rims of 19 and 20 inches. From April on, it will also be sold as a limited edition in the European market. Premium products Pirelli s industry and sales strategy has more and more been focused on the premium segment. This area achieved the biggest rise in market share worldwide. This is valid for both the saturated European market, at the moment still the biggest for premium tyres, and for the fast growing markets in other countries. Pirelli s research concentrates on the production of innovative solutions for sustainable mobility. This is the core of the premium strategy. Sustainable mobility, which stands for safety, comfort and protection of the environment as well, is not only a guideline for all the Pirelli tyre families but also for highly technological systems like Cyber Tyre. The Cyber Tyre communicates with the electronics of the car and provides even more stability. Furthermore, the maintenance of the tyres will be much improved. (oth) Sottozero: a spike version 2 MILLION TYRES ON STOCK! R AutoRäderReifen - Gummibereifung 06 2012 129

Interview Dr Hendrik Stevens/Nexen Tire The biggest potentials can be found in the area of rubber compound. The Korean tyre brand Nexen Tire pulled off a big deal by employing the compound expert Dr Hendrik Stevens and impressively emphasized its ambitious growth goals. The Dutchman works together with a team in the European Technical Centre in Frankfurt in order to define the special requirements of the European market for some tyre types and to communicate this to developers in Korea. We met Dr Stevens in Frankfurt and spoke about his work, the importance of OE partnerships and tyre tests as well as about the secret of a good rubber compound. The opening of the European Technical Centre was considered as a clear sign by Nexen Tire to face the challenges of the markets on this continent. What impact has the ETC on the development work in Korea? During the first year, there has already been an excellent cooperation. We work for example together on projects in original equipment. Our Korean colleagues present developments and then it is our turn to decide whether depending on our experiences with regard to the European market the tyre will have to be optimized concerning different aspects. This refers to the form or structure of the tyre, but likewise with reference to the type of compound we can bring in our experience so that finally European requirements could be met. Generally, our recommendations are considered. At the moment we work as consultant and give our Korean colleagues advice, but we will also have our own development projects in the future. I would like to sum up that our cooperation has developed in an excellent way. Dr Hendrik Stevens is regarded as one of the most distinguished compound experts of the tyre industry. Thus, it is your job to define the special requirements for certain tyre types and to communicate this to the development team in Korea. Could you explain how this works in detail, please? As testing tyres in Korea is subject to different conditions and as we gain our experiences for Europe on-site, we can define what problems are likely to occur in combination with a special development. Our proposals for construction changes or different compound variations are sent together with test results to our development department in Korea and put into practice there. The respective optimizing will be carried out in a permanent exchange. Thanks to new ways 130 AutoRäderReifen - Gummibereifung 06 2012

of communication processes can take place much faster. We have got a totally new video conference equipment at the ETC which enables us to keep in very close contact. And we have discovered that especially the quality of our communication with our Korean colleagues is the most essential part of development and cooperation. How big is the ETC team and how was it recruited? There are two developers here in Frankfurt and one additional for engineering as well as a compounder, a secretary, director Hee Jong Lee and me. Apart from this, there is a team of seven employees who are exclusively occupied with tyre testing as we are at the beginning of many original equipment projects. Particularly, these projects require a high amount of tyre tests which is currently our strongest supporting leg. The intensification of original equipment partnerships is certainly an important element of Nexen s strategy. OE partnerships and journal tests are similarly of crucial importance to us. The intensification of original equipment activities is still in a process. We are already preparing some and we cannot speak about a majority of projects at the moment. Nonetheless, I can tell you that we as newcomer and according to the way we present ourselves are interesting partners for some manufacturers. There is a main focus on one big national manufacturer here. Because of being a global player we are correspondingly in contact with automotive manufacturers from other countries. Getting in contact with trade and endconsumers is achieved by respective test results. How satisfied are you with recently published results? We are very satisfied with our test results. The ADAC test is of course the most important one, because it reaches with all reprints about 200 million readers all over Europe. Here we could achieve good results with N8000 in dimension 205/55 R 16 V especially on wet roads. Promobil is definitely a journal which covers a limited market, but this test where we were at the start with our tyre CP321 and finally achieved the second rank with a total mark of good will likewise be published in the journal Lastauto Omnibus/Transporter Magazin. Then many fleet operators will see that we have an interesting product in our range of products which is competitive at a totally different price. This demonstrates that we offer above all for the segment of light trucks good options. The third result which delighted us refers to the premium segment and tuning sizes. The Auto Bild sports cars tested eight with 20 inches among others also the Nexen N8000 on a VW Scirocco. We could separate ourselves very impressively from our Chinese competitors and can thus guarantee that we offer a powerful product at a reasonable price. We surely will have to expand this position by taking part in further tests and consequently by improvements in such tests. Nexen tyres are marketed here with a good price-performance ratio. Will this strategy be continued or are there any plans to enter the premium segment? If possible, we would like to behave exactly in this way. We would similarly like to improve our profit situation That is for sure. What products in your current Nexen catalogue would you describe as the most interesting for German car drivers? Those are the new N Blue lines: N Blue ECO for smaller cars and N Blue HD as rolling resistant alternative. They are together with N8000 the most interesting product lines and markets. Our winter tyre range of products we will undoubtedly still have to optimize. It can be noticed in general that also with regard to the topic of EU labelling green tyres are gaining more and more importance. Nexen would like to put emphasis on this area too. We are pushed by original equipment in the area of rolling resistance which is the innovation engine of this industry. As a result, the requirements in the area of energy efficiency will considerably be increased in the years to come. The progress realized in this area will unquestionably have an impact on the series and thus the end-consumer market will benefit from it. Nevertheless, I do not think that we, however, will similarly say that we will produce tyres for electro mobiles nonetheless, we will definitely further improve the quality of our tyres. Let us get deeper into the topic of tyre development. In which areas tread, construction and rubber compound can we expect the biggest development jumps in the future? In the next years, we will certainly experience that tyres will weigh less. Thus, less volume will be deformed which will result into less rolling resistance. The other aspect is that rubber manufacturers in Europe and Asia are now able to deliver special types of rubber which can extremely well cope with silicic acid. Silicic acid has chemically a totally different surface as soot which needs another form of chemistry. The characteristic features of the new types of rubber and their compounds with silicic acid will significantly improve the optimizing possibilities of wear, slipping tendencies and rolling resistance. In the meantime the second or third generation of rubber have been developed which can especially be used with silicic acid. It is quite easy for an experienced compound developer to find good recipes for rubber compounds. It is, however, quite difficult to develop them in a processible way. In the future, processing will decide who will be in the lead in the long run. Developing a compound in a laboratory is one thing but putting the compound on a tyre is a real challenge. If the compound is very elastic, it will be tried to inject it, then the compound will make a try to get into its original form. If the compound is relatively inelastic, it will be pretty easy to inject it. The art consists in injecting a compound in such a way that it will keep its form and can easily be processed. This is as well one of the reasons why we have a process and research area in our development department. The new raw materials and compounds are a real challenge for production. This department is above all responsible for monitoring the processibility of compounds. The biggest potentials are definitely in the area of rubber compounds. We have more or less overcome the target conflict of wet and rolling resistance, in the future, however, it will be more necessary to concentrate on the conflict between rolling resistance, dry handling and wear. Let us finally focus again on the big topic of EU labelling. The manufacturers have mostly finished preparations of categorizing the tyres. How satisfied is your company with the results? Our products, which we develop for original equipment, are at the same level as those of our competitors. It goes without mentioning that it is one of our development goals to offer a tyre which will be able to achieve an A in the categories of rolling resistance and wet grip. You will have heard similar things from other manufacturers. Our colleagues in Korea are cooperating with well-known rubber manufacturers on the raw material side in order to further develop the compounds. YOUR PARTNER IN TYRES! R AutoRäderReifen - Gummibereifung 06 2012 131

Apart from this, it is correspondingly important to reduce the total weight of tyres. When will Nexen Tire launch data for trade? A possible early release would offer the possibility of benefiting from an additional marketing potential. Our colleagues in Korea have not given us any respective information so far. You are undoubtedly right that many test capacities are focused on this topic at the moment. Furthermore, it is crucial for a manufacturer like Nexen to further develop the institutional part. We are aiming at closer contact with ETRTO in order to be informed about future developments as early as possible. The introduction of the label had been announced a long time ago, nevertheless details or testing methods were not clear for a rather long time. As a manufacturer it is of huge importance for us to get information right from the beginning in order to avoid being pushed by such developments. I would like to add, however, that we are generally well prepared with regard to EU labelling. (kle) Stevens disposes of more than 25 years in this area. Before he was employed by Nexen Tire the Dutchman worked for the tyre brands Continental and Hankook. 132 AutoRäderReifen - Gummibereifung 06 2012

Conti tyres tested in practice The difficult calculation of transport efficiency A maximum of transport efficiency is put into practice by an adequate motorization, an aerodynamic adaptation of the vehicle and, above all, by appropriate tyres. The question is: How will the rule of three of mileage, rolling resistance and lowest variable costs be solved in the best possible way? The forwarding agents Langenlonsheimer Transport GmbH and Spedition Schmelzer GmbH went for a tyre test on the Palatinate track. Marcus Schmelzer and Manfred Graffe (LTG) are fully aware of the crucial importance of tyres in fleet business. In the past, the two fleet professionals already developed different concepts together in order to optimize cost and consumption control with regard to a primary focus on the use of the fleet in different areas. Nowadays a saving potential of three litres/100 km per truck could be achieved in combination with training for the drivers on a regular basis. When taking the continuously increasing fuel costs into consideration a six-digit Data were collected on the 214-km test track although trouble-free results could not be provided during the practical tests on the road due to external influences. Euro amount could be added up quite easily, which could be saved without loss of speed and quality for transportation. The owner-managed forwarding agent Schmelzer and Langenlonsheimer Transport GmbH have already realized consumption potentials as a consequence of staff trainings. Further potentials were to be activated by optimizing the hardware. Apart from aerodynamics neatly adapted to use and vehicle combination, rolling resistance of a truck trailer plays a crucial role when looking for hidden consumption sources. The quality of the tyres is a decisive factor. Cost calculations are often characterized by a conflict between the lowest possible rolling resistance and thus long durability in contrast to driving safety and comfort. Consequently, the mandatory Europe-wide introduction of labels for tyres will lead to more transparency for fleet operators. The current data specifications are not pretty informative. From November on, the label will notify of rolling resistance capacities and the consumption character of a tyre. In the long run, the label will also be an important purchase criterion in the truck area apart from price and dealer recommendation. Nonetheless, the actual right choice of tyres for the respective use will ideally as well be made on the basis of relevant practical experience in the future. The decision-takers at Schmelzer and LTG, the gigantic fleet for building materials, followed only recently this pattern together the companies organized their own tyre test. There was the following tyre duel: Continental tyres of the 2+ long-distance series Eco Plus HSL2+, HDL2 and HTL2 versus a new Japanese premium-class tyre type started at the premises of the forwarding agent Schmelzer on a foggy Saturday morning. The comparison developed by fleet professional Thomas Neumann together with LTG Managing Director, Manfred Graffe, was based on a thorough collection of all driving data, if possible identical vehicles and two very good drivers who could provide constant driving quality at the steering wheel. Two new Volvo FH13-460 tractor-trailers with the drivers Karl-Heinz Haas and Mona Rellermeier at the steering wheel were tested. Data were transferred on the 214-km test drive via telemetry. According to the responsible people, the Transics Telematic System has already intensively been used at Schmelzer for some time in order to transmit reliable data on driving performance and driving behaviour of the Schmelzer fleet, which consists of 80 vehicles, to headquarters. Five AutoRäderReifen - Gummibereifung 06 2012 133

After half of the test unit the trucks were equipped with tyres of the Asian competitor. years ago we switched from Conti to a Japanese premium tyre at that time for cost reasons, Manfred Graffe, LTG s MD, says. The economic performance of tyres is still nowadays the crucial purchase criterion, which is essentially influenced by a mix of purchase price, mileage and fuel consumption. At the moment, the company s fleet consists of about 1,800 trucks and a total of 3,000 registered vehicles. According to Graffe s matterof-fact judgement there has not been any quality problem with one brand tyre so far. Cost calculations at LTG come complete with recutting capacity, retreading and a good carcass price. The annual demand consists together with four purchase partners of 5,000 tyres for commercial vehicle tyres. Due to less carcass thickness and lower tread profile even vehicles of the fleet with low mileage are not equipped with new tyres from low-cost suppliers. Since the company was founded in 1980, the responsible people of the forwarding agent Schmelzer GmbH have relied on Continental rubber. Moreover, Jürgen Rose, authorized signatory at Schmelzer, added apart from the already mentioned reasons the higher potential of quality tyres of the premium segment for avoiding damages. Many insurers want to get rid of the fleet business. It is very likely that a company will become a case for refurbishment for the insurer after one or two big damages in the fleet. Rose purchases about 300 new tyres for the company on an annual basis. Nevertheless, purchasing tyres does not automatically go hand in hand with the corresponding customer service. Service around truck tyres can have a huge impact on the economic efficiency of a solution. The responsible people at Schmelzer verify cost efficiency by fleet control as well as just in time availability for new and spare purchases. Taking back valuable carcasses on-site for retreading and the possibility of a complaint management are highly welcome too. The two forwarding agents did not subject their testing in practice to laboratory conditions, but according to the responsible people of the forwarding agents data were provided in connection with rolling resistance and consumption which show a clear tendency with regard to a projected annual mileage of the vehicles. The rolling resistance test on the Palatinate test track confirmed the quality of Continental s long-distance tyres of the second generation. Moreover, cost potentials concerning mileage, retreading and recutting capacity, sales price of used carcasses and frequency of damages demonstrate that rubber made in Hannover are first choice. Furthermore, not only the evaluation of cost positions but also the service quality of Continental s Regional Manager, Thomas Zeugpfang, are without any doubt an additional crucial purchase criterion. (kle) 134 AutoRäderReifen - Gummibereifung 06 2012