Michelin To Go Green With Coloured Tyres

The new product - the Tonus - is being tested on dozens of cars in France, Italy and Germany over the next six months.

If the results are satisfactory, the tyres may go on sale next year. Michelin says the coloured tyre has been made possible by a breakthrough in technology enabling carbon black to be replaced by silica without affecting performance. Carbon black lengthens the life of tyres by absorbing the sun's ultraviolet rays, preventing the rubber from becoming brittle.

The company, based at Clermont-Ferrand in southern France, plans to target the tyres initially at young, urban drivers, and has developed them for small- and medium-sized cars.

 

It says it is too early to say whether they will cost more than standard black tyres.

Nor has it decided whether they will be advertised under the Michelin label or one of its other brands. The company acknowledges that the tyre was developed for its marketing potential rather than for environmental considerations. Green was chosen as the launch colour -- green like the leaves of a tree -- because research indicated it would go well.

The colour range is limited for technical reasons. But the company - whose shares yesterday rose FFr1.10, or 0.5 per cent to FFr243.90 ($47.94), a marginally better performance than the benchmark CAC-40 index - eventually intends to make other colours available.