Michelin Launches the All-New BFGoodrich Winter Tire

Michelin North America Inc. has introduced the brand new BFGoodrich Winter T/A KSI for Canada passengers and Crossover Utility Vehicles (CUVs)

Canada: Michelin North America Inc, recently, has launched BFGoodrich Winter T/A KSI, which would replace the predecessor model Winter Slalom KSI tire by the company in Canada. As per Kevin Reim, BFGoodrich Global Product Category Manager for passenger products, the Winter Slalom KSI is already being phased out across the United States.

“We are evaluating the BFGoodrich Winter T/A KSI for the U.S. market, but we do not have a definitive timeline. Our focus has been on the Canadian market first as we know how important the winter category is here” Kevin Reim stated at a launch event in Ottawa, Canada. He also added, “We were laser focused on meeting the snow tire season with this launch for Canada. We want to have a great supply for our Canadian BFGoodrich dealers. We will begin to evaluate the opportunity in the U.S. after we have successfully completed our Canadian launch”.

Michelin Winter T/A KSI is launching in 32 varied sizes between 14 to 18-inch rim diameters. The 32 sizes of Michelin Winter T/A KSI would cover around 66 per cent of the winter tire sizes in Canada. Furthermore, six new T-rated tire sizes, are being planned to be added in the Michelin Winter T/A KSI portfolio by August, 2018. After the launch of complete tire range by Michelin, the Winter T/A KSI would be available in 38 sizes, which is anticipated to cover nearly 77 per cent of the Canadian winter tire market.

According to Reim, “We’ve been able to improve our snow traction slightly along with snow handling. The previous product was very tough to beat there. We’ve made big improvements in ice traction and also in wet braking. If you want to get more wet performance, you’re typically going to have to trade off snow performance and likewise with dry. Not trading off in the dry area is very important because we’ve been able to break some compromises there. So we’re very pleased with where we’ve gone with this product to break compromises and deliver the most value that we can in this category.”

The new tire by Michelin would feature high sipe density, inter-locking three-dimensional sipes, serrated shoulder design, integrated center rib, wide inter-lateral grooves, casing protectors and many more.

TechSci Research depicts that Michelin holds an eminent position in the Canada tire market. Moreover, by launching a new range of winter tires in the country, the company would be able to penetrate through the consumer base of Canada, in a more efficient way in coming years. Besides that, it is expected that with the launch of such advance winter tires in the market, the sale of Michelin tires would eventually rise, across the region.

According to a recent report published by TechSci Research, “Canada Tyre Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2020”, Canada tire market is forecast to increase at a CAGR of around 6% till 2020. Large vehicle fleet and growing hybrid vehicle sales would be the major factors driving Canada tire market over the forecast period. Passenger car tire market is the dominant segment followed by commercial vehicle tire segment and two-wheelers tire segment. Further, the replacement tire segment leads OEM tire segment by huge margins and it is anticipated that this trend will continue through the forecast period. Michelin, Goodyear and Bridgestone have domestic production facilities in the country, while all other players cater to the growing demand for tires through their sales and marketing offices in Canada.