GiTi Tire has welcomed the new EU tyre labelling directive that comes into effect on November 1, and has stated their €1.5m investment will ensure accurate figures are easily available to garages and the general public.
Regulation 1222/2009 is intended to provide easy-to-understand buying information on tyres in three areas - rolling resistance, wet grip and external rolling noise.
GiTi Tire has undertaken extensive testing across all product portfolios in the four main brands, namely GT Radial, Primewell, Runway and Dextero, making the information available to consumers on its website as well as issuing a detailed, technical guide for garages.
Richard Lyons (pictured), Managing Director - Europe for GiTi Tire, said: "Any initiative that allows buyers to make more informed decisions about their tyre purchases is to be welcomed, and we are taking a completely transparent approach to tyre labelling.
"Despite the efforts of the industry over decades, many tyre buyers remain poorly informed about the likely performance of the products that they are fitting to their vehicle. Bearing this in mind, labelling which creates interest in different tyre attributes is a positive step.
"From a GiTi Tire viewpoint, it is important to underline that our product development brief has always been to offer the very best tyres that we can and we are very confident that our labelling will stand up strongly in each sector of the market in which we compete.
"However, it is also worth bearing in mind that each tyre design is a balance between different factors and that the label is only a guide that is designed to cover a relatively narrow band of attributes, providing the customer with an at-a-glance indication of general performance.
"Where we introduce new products and there is a potential choice between delivering the best label or what we believe to be the best product, we will always go with the latter. This especially applies to tyres designed to deliver in extreme conditions such as winter tyres, ultra high performance and 4x4," concluded Lyons.