Pirelli presents Scorpion Verde: the first eco tyre for SUV drivers with an ecological heart

RESPECT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, SAVINGS, BRAKING, GRIP AND HANDLING IN A SINGLE PRODUCT DEVELOPED FOR THE LATEST GENERATION OF SUVs AND CROSSOVERS SCORPION VERDE EXPANDS PIRELLI’S RANGE OF GREEN TYRES INAUGURATED WITH THE CINTURATO LINE
Barcelona, March 2010 – Pirelli is set to present Scorpion Verde, the first high-performance eco tyre for vehicles with the highest environmental impact – SUVs and Crossovers – at the Idiada International Testing Circuit in Barcelona (Catalonia). The new tyre has been created taking full advantage of all of Pirelli's latest research as well as a design system that integrates new materials, structures, and tread patterns, in order to guarantee savings, respect for the environment, comfort, and safety on all road surfaces. Scorpion Verde is the latest addition to Pirelli’s range of eco-friendly tyres, inaugurated in 2008 with the return of the Cinturato line in the P4 and P6 versions. In 2009, these were expanded to include the P7, the first ecological tyre for medium and high-powered cars. Scorpion Verde completes Pirelli’s range of Scorpion tyres, which already includes the ATR for 4x4s, and the Scorpion Zero, developed for more high performing SUVs. Scorpion Verde will be available on the replacement market from April, 2010. It has been specifically created for the latest generation in SUVs and Crossovers, such as the Volkswagen Touareg, which has already chosen it as its original equipment. Scorpion Verde, technology with an ecological heart. Scorpion Verde develops and applies the environmentally-friendly experience that Pirelli technicians gained with Cinturato P7 together with the high performances of the PZero range. Moreover, the new line of SUV tyres also takes advantage of cutting-edge engineering techniques and delivers innovative integrated solutions from materials to structures. Scorpion Verde has a twofold objective. The first is to contribute to stability and reduce consumption among all categories of SUVs and Crossovers - whose market is currently on the rise and is destined to expand further in the coming years - while the second is to ensure safety and comfort for the drivers of such vehicles, since they have demonstrated the greatest propensity for ecology among motorists (see the “Numbers” file). In particular, Scorpion Verde boasts both new materials and a new structure that guarantees steady performance throughout the tyre’s useful life in terms of diminishing noxious emissions, noise reduction, running economy, shorter braking distances, and comfort. Savings and durability. Scorpion Verde’s eco-friendly profile reveals a tyre made entirely with materials free from aromatic oils. The tyre is in line with the best in the category for overall reduction in fuel consumption of up to 3.9% for city driving and of 3.4% on mixed routes (city and highway driving), and lowers acoustic emissions by one decibel, which is equal to a total reduction of 30% (equivalent to removing an entire lane from a three-lane motorway). In addition, Scorpion Verde was designed to ensure uniform tread wear and increase the tyre’s overall durability with equal performance. All the ecological features of Pirelli's new tyre range are guaranteed by a combination of factors: the development of an optimised profile, the use of cutting-edge materials, an optimised design process and reducing energy dissipation. These features provide a drop in rolling resistance equal to 20% in total, allowing for cutbacks in both consumption and noxious emissions. What is more, Scorpion Verde is also lighter and has been designed to use 10% fewer raw materials, decreasing its environmental impact per unit produced by the same amount. Comfort and safety on all road types. Just as for Pirelli’s Cinturato range, for the Scorpion range as well, having an ecological heart does not mean sacrificing performance, particularly in terms of safety and comfort. In fact, Scorpion Verde combines ecological features with improved braking, greater traction on wet surfaces and better handling. A number of factors have contributed to these results, such as the new materials it uses in its compounds, which integrate the latest technologies; nano-compounds, that is, cutting-edge polymers that adapt to various road conditions; and hybrid fibres, which combine different materials to achieve diverse performance. Specifically, Scorpion Verde was developed to ensure improved safety on wet asphalt thanks to a combination of three factors: a tread pattern with 4 deep longitudinal grooves for increased water dispersion, innovative compounds designed to achieve greater traction on wet surfaces, and reinforced shoulders to optimise lateral grip on all asphalt conditions. Green Performance. Scorpion Verde consolidates Pirelli’s Green Performance, the technology developed by Pirelli Tyre laboratories that focuses on ecology and road safety, or - in other words - sustainable mobility. In addition to Scorpion Verde and the Cinturato range, all the Group’s efforts in Research and Development have also targeted Green Performance. In the coming months, this will entail the introduction of a number of new features which are set to be a watershed for the entire industry, just like the radial Cinturato of the 1950s and the lowered shoulder of the 1970s. These developments are part of a global, integrated ecological approach that spans from increasingly green tyres in all segments to the use of new, non-petroleum-based materials; from integrated solutions for the automotive industry to production processes with increasing environmental respect, in a process that sees ecology applied to the entire chain, from solutions for producing tyres to the end product. Pirelli’s is a commitment with long-standing, solid roots that can be traced back to a passion for innovation that has been the Group’s philosophy for over 130 years. During this time, this commitment has become a reference point for both the automotive industry and its R&D department, whose five centres of excellence worldwide (Italy, Germany, Brazil, the United States and the United Kingdom) employ about one thousand professionals and whose annual expenditure is the highest in the tyre sector (as a percentage of sales). Scorpion Verde is the first tyre with ecological features to be developed for SUVs and Crossovers, placing Pirelli at the forefront once more with a tyre that perfectly combines the features of Cinturato and Pzero while launching a new (hereto unseen) challenge in the automotive world: high performance, eco-compatible tyres that forgo neither handling nor safety, whilst also reducing consumption and noxious emissions.