Pirelli works closely with the world’s best luxury car, sports car and supercar brands to tailor-make a specific tyre for every individual car model.
IN THE BEGINNING
“Every time a new car is placed on the market, the tyre engineers are given the far from easy task of creating its very own ‘tyre’, in other words an item that best accommodates the car’s specific requirements.”
Apt words which were uttered in the late 1950s when Pirelli’s “Perfect Fit” – the strategy of tailoring tyres to suit a car – was first introduced to the motoring world. You can liken it to getting London’s best tailor to craft a bespoke suit which gently hugs all your curves. The final fit will be… well… perfect.
Pirelli is, without question, the brand of choice when it comes to tyres for the prestige car sector. Interestingly, it wasn’t until 1966 that Perfect Fit took on a concrete form with the introduction of a car which revolutionsed the global automotive landscape – the Lamborghini Miura. The tyre fitted on this iconic supercar? The Cinturato HS CN72 in 205 V15 size and with a tread pattern developed specifically for the car.
BIRTH OF P ZERO
Fast forward to today, Perfect Fit lives on and often, it is mentioned together with another famous name: the P Zero, Pirelli’s ultra highperformance tyre. Just one name but many different versions with changes according to the characteristics and requirements of the premium cars it is destined to shod.
Created in 1986 for the Lancia Delta S4 so it could conquer the world of rallying, it was first used on a road-legal car the following year. Which car? None other than the iconic Ferrari F40. It was the first time that a 17-inch tyre was used for a road vehicle, that a production car used front and rear tyres of different sizes, and that a “Z” speed rating (above 240km/h) was used for a tyre. Since then, P Zero variants such as the System, Rosso, Nero GT, Corsa and Trofeo have become the preferred choices in the prestige car segment.
Lamborghini, Ferrari, McLaren, Pagani, Bentley, Aston Martin and Maserati, just to name a few – look at the tyres on the models from these prestige marques and it’s no surprise that one in two is a Pirelli. This makes the brand the undisputed leader in the prestige car segment.
CLOSE COLLABORATIONS
Perfect Fit means a specific tyre for every car, designed and made with dedicated technology, production processes and materials. How dedicated? The conversations about how the tyre should be and what it needs to fulfil begins at the stage when the car is nowhere near solid form and continues until the final details such as size, compound and tread design are finalised. The needs and wants expressed by the engineers of the various car companies – working in close cooperation with Pirelli – enable the company to develop P Zero tyres which are customised for each individual model. Co-operation and collaboration cannot be more cohesive or complete than this.
As a celebration for every “perfectly fitted” Pirelli P Zero tyre created, the tyres receive a specific mark on the side, a birthmark of sorts, which varies according to the car manufacturer – a special symbol which shows that the tyre was made to order by Pirelli.
PERFECT FIT, FOR YOU
While the Perfect Fit strategy tells the story of the initmate collaboration between Pirelli and its carmaking customers, ulitmately, this extreme attention to detail will benefit the most important people – the ones who will actually drive the cars fitted with these tyres.
— Brought to you by Pirelli —
