Newsletter - September 2012

New EU Tyre label: changing the way tyres are bought?

A new and now compulsory EU label will grade tyres from A to G for rolling resistance (fuel efficiency) and wet grip (safety), whilst the number of dBs on the label will display their rolling noise.

This is coupled with another EU regulation setting new minimum requirements for the same performances, with the objective of moving towards safer and more sustainable road transport.

This is the first time that such a detailed label enters the automotive sector – and it is a game-changer for the whole tyre supply chain, right down to the consumer. From the manufacturers’ point of view, this will have the effect of enhancing already fierce competition. Furthermore, the manufacturers will benefit from visible product differentiation resulting from increased transparency on the quality of three of the many characteristics of a tyre. As a result, consumers will now be able to effectively compare tyres on the basis of information on selected three performances that were so far little known.

“We hope consumers will not only find this useful to make better informed decisions,” – said Mr Lepercq, President of the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers Association (ETRMA), “but also that they will realise that tyres are very complex products which can change their driving experience, have an effect on the vehicle’s safety on the road and effect the environment.”

The effect of these two pieces of legislation combined is indeed testimony of “what a tyre can do”. It is in fact estimated that their correct enforcement could result in 5 per cent fuel savings on the total EU fleet. This effectively means taking one million passenger cars off the EU’s roads every year and – for the consumer – significant savings in fuel on the lifetime of a set of four tyres. Furthermore, choosing tyres with the best wet grip would result in shortening the stopping distance of a vehicle as much as four car lengths.

Finally, whilst the debate on sound from motor vehicles is still going on in the European Institutions, a tyre with only one noise wave displayed on the label can reduce the external tyre rolling noise by four times.

With the manufacturers and European legislators having committed to offering the consumers an improved and more transparent choice, it is now up to national authorities to make sure that these legislations are correctly applied and to the consumers to make the right choice for their driving preferences.