Pirelli Launches New 20 Inch High Performance Tyres At The 31st Essen International Motor Show

Milan, November 26, 1998 - At the 1998 Essen Motor Show, from 27 November to 6 December, one of the world's most important tuner events, Pirelli will unveil a new range of 19 and 20 inch diameter supertyres.

The ultra-high performance Pirelli PZero and P7000 car tyres are, in fact, available today in 10 sizes which, in their latest, extreme incarnation of 19 and 20 inch diameter, enable not only the " tuners" but also the car manufacturers themselves to experiment with the kind of concept cars the creation of which was considered impossible until today.
The first of this new breed to appear was the futuristic XK180 roadster by Jaguar, the world's first car to be fitted with 20 inch diameter Pirelli PZero tyres. Typical of the on-going close technological co-operation between Jaguar and Pirelli, after having adopted 18 inch tyres as original equipment for the XKR coupe, the two companies decided to explore the potential of the giant 20 inch rims fitted to the " concept roadster" . The availability of the Pirelli PZero in such extreme sizes today permits more audacious new car development work on models like the Audi A8, BMW 7 Series, Mercedes-Benz S Class and Lexus 400.

But in the meantime, the Callaway C12 supercar, created using the Chevrolet Corvette as a base, became the world's first to adopt 19 inch diameter PZero tyres, developed in special sizes 295/30ZR19 and 335/25ZR19, as original equipment to guarantee the C12 hyper-sports handling.
With its 19 inch PZero and P7000 tyres, Pirelli make it possible for tuners to work with much more extensively sold models, like the BMW 5 Series, Mercedes-Benz E Class and Audi A6: vehicles which, with a 19 inch wheel group, can achieve at one and the same time both sports car handling and the kind of drive comfort expected of their class.

Now, Pirelli plans to bring that same kind of advanced sports car handling with comfort to mass produced cars like the BMW 3 Series, Audi A4, Mercedes-Benz CLK. It is for this reason that the tyre maker developed a range of tyres which - while of extreme diameter - maintain a limited tread width in order to be perfectly suited to the exceptionally confined space of such car bodies and their wheel housings.
The trend to the giant rim is clearly recognizable also in the SUV segment, where Pirelli already has the 19" Scorpion Zero range. The new 20" sizes Scorpion Zero will be soon available.
So the Essen Motor Show will be an opportunity to see the applied technology of the Pirelli ultra-low profile and its considerable innovative potential in the hands of the tuners: from BMWs by Hartge to Alfa Romeos by Hormann, the Opels of Irmscher, the Porsches of Techart, the Renaults of Elia and the Fords of Schwabengarage.