In the seventh part of our Winter Tyres feature, Commercial Tyre Business had the chance to discover the options offered by the Prometeon Tyre Group to the UK and European winter marketsin an interview with Ali Yilmaz, Marketing Manager UK, Eire & Nordics for the tyre manufacturer
UK Winter Tyre Market Well-Stocked for Winter with Prometeon
Prometeon, sees the UK winter tyre market as somewhat distinct from the European market. While it’s a common joke across the world that Britain has underwhelming summers, it’s less well known that the UK has fairly mild winters, certainly in comparison to various countries across mainland Europe, with only occasional, temporary snowfall.
Due to this, Prometeon predicts that sales for its specialist winter tyres, featuring the valued ICE pattern, will reach around 5,000 units. The reason, Yilmaz argues, is two-fold.
He said, “Primarily, the vast majority of truck and bus fleets already have tyres fitted with ‘M & S’ (mud and snow) patterns. Secondly, it’s not obligatory for UK fleets to fit an ICE or winter tyre pattern on HGV or bus fleets as winters are far shorter and milder than, say Scandinavian countries who may have legal requirements for fleets fit a specific ICE or winter tyre pattern on their vehicle.”
Promoteon, therefore, keep reserves for the most needed HGV sizes for a rainy day or, in this case, a particularly gruelling winter. They also keep an eye on inventory, with Yilmaz explaining, “We may need to increase winter tyre production should the UK and Europe see heavy downfalls of snow and prolonged sub-zero temperatures.” This in itself is telling, indicating it’s very much an ‘in case of’ situation, instead of customer demand.
Prometeon Ensuring Drivers Venturing into Europe Drive Safely
For drivers who work in continental Europe as part of their remit, Prometeon sees the Pirelli truck tyre – Triathlon W:01 as the gold standard in winter driving. The tyre’s unique tread pattern is suitable for steer or drive axles, with the block design helping maintain traction in the face of severely, icy roads. Yilmaz adds that for fleets, “It would be wise to consider fitting specific winter tyres to your vehicles for safety reasons, and to ensure you comply with the relevant legislation.”
Speaking of Europe, we wanted to ask if Brexit has affected sales. According to Yilmaz, Prometeon adds that neither Brexit nor Covid-19 has affected the market, in news particularly welcome for the sector. Especially as we have seen in Commercial Tyre Business that production sectors are still suffering the after-effects of the global pandemic, the chip shortage as well as continued market uncertainty across the UK and Europ
