Winter Sottozero™: the Pirelli antidote. Down to the end of the world

Pirelli presents the most complete weapon against the cold season: maximum performance on snow and ice, in the wet - on all minimum grip surfaces. And all without giving up the pleasure of driving the highest performing cars on dry asphalt. Winter Sottozero goes beyond the snow tyre concept. It is the first real dual-season cover: from mid-autumn until early spring, always in absolute safety, no matter what the climatic variations and the kinds of cars to which it is fitted. Maximum technology, top performance on all types of surfaces in all temperatures, a range with a wealth of sizes, being further extended: with Winter Sottozero, the first UHP winter tyre, the Planet Zero range achieves even greater supremacy Ushuaia, Argentina, July 2004 - To the end of the world to find conditions of the end of the world. It is no coincidence that Pirelli has selected the worlds southernmost urban extremity, last outpost before the Antarctic, for the presentation of Winter Sottozero. As the northern hemispheres motoring world is gearing up for the summer holidays, the latest tyre in the Planet Zero range takes on the perils of the most difficult winter conditions in Patagonia. Snow, ice and intense cold: in Ushuaia, Winter Sottozero confirms that it is Pirellis most extreme Ultra High Performer (UHP). To exalt its qualities and facilitate the pleasure of driving increasingly high performance and demanding cars, even in winter conditions that are often on the limit: that is the purpose of Winter Sottozero. But the significance of the new tyre does not stop at its ability to measure up to severe road conditions. Sottozero does, in fact, represent a new concept: to ensure the maximum level of performance and safety in all the extreme situations that winter often imposes on the roads. No longer just a tyre able to hold the road well, brake effectively in the snow and keep aquaplaning conditions at bay, but also a guarantee of total acoustic and dynamic comfort and maximum performance in the dry and wet, like the most technically advanced summer tyres. Even driving at high speeds in safety. As global leaders in ultra-low UHP tyres, Pirelli could not remain indifferent to the increasing performance of cars in all segments of the market, the demands of extreme performance and of total safety in all conditions. Ever lower: inches for all seasons Since the birth of P Zero in the mid-Eighties, Pirelli has systematically reduced the aspect ratio (H/D) of its tyres, one of its trump cards. Winter Sottozero confirms this increase in rim dimensions, which is also the way to go in the field of winter tyres: a segment that, until yesterday, has often seen motorists forced to move down to smaller wheels in order to achieve maximum safety on ice and snow. Today, that need no longer exists: the new Pirelli winter tyre enables drivers to utilise the same rims they use for good weather motoring, due to a portfolio of sizes in the Winter Sottozero that ranges from 15-19 inches, and is headed by the 19-inch Directional-Asymmetric pairing already homologated as original equipment for the Lamborghini Gallardo. All with speed ratings that rise to V (up to 240 km/h), a segment which, from 1999 to today, has recorded an average annual increase in Europe of about 100% of total sales, and in which it is no coincidence that Pirelli is the undisputed leader. As well as an unquestioned technical superiority, this possibility to fit winter tyres to rims of ample diameter is also satisfying from the design point of view. The latest stylistic trends of the most modern super sports cars necessitate wide rims and tyres with lower shoulders one of the four basic requirements fully satisfied by Winter Sottozero. To complete customer expectations, the other three are: - A wealth of homologations - Performance and Safety - A wide range of homologations and applications Requirements that Winter Sottozero satisfies perfectly, starting with a substantial portfolio of homologations granted by all the principal car manufacturers, right up to those of maximum prestige and ultra-sports profile, like Ferrari, Porsche, Maserati and Lamborghini. A panorama in rapid expansion. On the performance and safety fronts, top marks were awarded by the severe German motoring press to Pirelli winter tyres, which often came out the leaders, following a series of exacting tests. This, thanks to a technology that Winter Sottozero expresses to the limit of results obtained from research and development. Winter changes, Pirelli technology conforms It seems like a century ago, but it was only in the Eighties Less than 20 years since changing to winter tyres was only a means of facing up to extreme conditions. Snow and ice were the most feared enemies of the motorist: the seasonal tyre ensured the best traction and braking on snow, but its handling in the dry and wet left much to be desired, not to mention acoustic comfort. Snow tyres had high shoulders and often forced drivers to change to smaller diameter rims. It was in the Nineties that winter covers took a decisive step forward in all of those areas: more inches, more effective in the dry and wet as well as in driving on snow - and comfort improved at last. But the choice of that kind of tyre was still focused on extreme conditions: snow and ice, for which no-one wanted to use ice spikes or chains any more. In all other conditions, the difference in handling compared to summer tyres made itself felt - negatively. Now, such conditions no longer exist. Further improved in every way for driving in extreme situations, the new Pirelli winter covers ensure top performance even in normal road conditions. Acoustic and dynamic comfort, performance and driveability from dry to wet to snow, the availability of sizes up to 19 inches: Winter Sottozero is the first real dual-season winter tyre,  which ensures the maximum in performance and effectiveness, from the end of October until the beginning of April, whatever the ambient weather conditions may be or the car (even extra sporty) to which they are fitted. And it is precisely the approval of the demanding German market among the most sensitive to extreme winter conditions that demonstrates those facts. If sales volume of snow tyres reached three million in the Eighties and rose to over seven million a decade later, today the market segment in which the Winter Sottozero will take its place now amounts to over 19 million tyres in Europe. And that phenomenon is in rapid expansion: from 1997-2003, the sale of winter tyres went up by almost 80%; an unstoppable increase for winter tyres in sizes of more than 17 inches or with a V speed rating, confirming the fact that it is the sports and ultra-sports cars that demand the most in this segment. Winter Sottozero responds to those needs with the maximum of available technology. Nano-composite materials and a new type of silicone for the tread compound, the Pirelli twin-strata system for greater rigidity at the base of the tread and less in the tread block area they all guarantee the new winter tyre great performance and maximum reliability. From motorsport to Sottozero As with all maximum performance tyres, Winter Sottozero  is the culmination of a route that also traversed motor sport, always the mobile test laboratory and a privileged element in Pirelli research and development. In particular, the achievement of the tread compounds of this winter cover benefited from the extensive work constantly taking place in support of world championship rallying, for many years a source of top level success for Pirelli. Winter Sottozero extends the series of Pirellis winter tyres of innovative technical significance. Which began in 1995 with a Directional version of the Winter tyre soon followed by an asymmetric and continued with great sales success by Winter Snowsport (1999) and Winter Snowcontrol (2001), which Winter Sottozero now joins: a completely innovative project. Starting with a new, patented tread pattern, divided into two completely different internal and external areas of the tyre to guarantee exceptional performance in perfect equilibrium of yield on the different surfaces encountered. Winter Sottozero also comprises the most significant technological innovations, among them its nano-composites, reinforcing elements of molecular dimensions, which are used at the base of the tread for maximum stability on dry surfaces and sports car driving conditions. The fullest attention to performance and safety could not leave Run Flat technology unexplored by Pirelli. Winter Sottozero is already available with this type of applied science built into it, in sizes 225/45R17 and 225/50R17. Soon, Pirellis portfolio of homologations will include other sizes with this technology to meet the demands of car manufacturers responsive to it. Anyway, in Pirelli we know that the road is our friend. And it has only just begun. On the best cars in the world. Even in the toughest and most demanding winter conditions, Winter Sottozero now gives motorists the opportunity of making no exceptions.