Positively Pirelli

This tire company is still hugging the road at 150

Rubber tires—those doughnut-shaped, air-filled structures that surround wheel rims to provide traction and absorb shocks—were in their infancy when industrialist Giovanni Battista Pirelli opened a small rubber factory in Milan, Italy, in 1872.

In the 150 years since then, rubber tires, much like the company Pirelli founded, have evolved to meet the different and ever-changing needs of motorists and cyclists in every corner of the world.

“The only constant is the air needed to fill tires—though inflating with nitrogen is also now an option,” says Ernest Bedia, president and chief executive officer of Pirelli Tire Canada.

Tire technology

With 19 production plants in a dozen countries and nearly 31,000 employees in more than 160 countries, Pirelli is one of the world’s largest tire makers and the only one that focuses exclusively on the consumer market for cars, motorcycles and bicycles.

In addition to four-season, winter, summer and all-terrain tires for passenger cars, light trucks, and CUVs and SUVs, Pirelli’s product lines range from everyday use to extreme performance applications developed over more than a century as a world leader in racing technology—a pre-eminence acknowledged in 2010, when Pirelli became the sole supplier of tires for Formula One cars.

According to Bedia, technological innovations in the materials, design and construction of rubber tires have helped Pirelli to improve everything from the noise, range and mileage life of its products to load-carrying abilities and traction in all seasons and road conditions.

He also credits Pirelli with being both a pioneer and a leader in the integration of smart-tire technology, which features embedding sensors in tires to provide real-time data on tire conditions and predictive capabilities for service needs and tire life.

“We continue to work on improving traction,” says Bedia, adding that adhesion is a crucial concern in northern countries like Canada where road conditions can be as varied and extreme as the weather, especially in winter. “But we are also putting emphasis on current and future tire technology.”

Topping that list is what Bedia calls Pirelli’s efforts to “redevelop” the modern tire to meet the fast- evolving needs of lighter electric and self-driving vehicles.

Making a tire’s life cycle circular

Sustainability and environmental protection are also top of mind. “As a global company we are fully committed to a full life-cycle strategy, from material sourcing to recycling at the end of tire life,” says Bedia.

Pirelli, he adds, was the only tire maker to win the 2021 S&P Global Gold Class award for sustainability and is the first to produce a range of tires certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Pirelli evaluates every step in its supply chain, from the management of raw materials—in this case the natural rubber produced by plants and used to make more than 40,000 products, including tires—to the preservation of biological diversity and providing benefits to local workers and producers.

“We will continue our mission to lead sustainability activities in our industry and maintain our leadership as a social and environmentally responsible tire manufacturer,” says Bedia. “In Canada, our goal is to continue to diversify our product offerings with our leading-edge technology and innovations that are focused on the future.”

---