Sustainability Channel

Swiss motorists prefer Pirelli – P lunga is the year’s best tyre brand for the fourth consecutive year according to ‘Auto Illustrierte’ readers

For the fourth consecutive year, Pirelli has won the ‘Best Tuning Cars & Best Brands 2009’,  the contest most liked by the readers of ‘Auto Illustrierte’ (AI), the prestigious independent Swiss motoring magazine. In a survey involving over 2,000 readers, Pirelli was declared the best tyre brand of 2009.

The ‘Best Brand’ contest has by now become an important institution of AI magazine, especially for tuning enthusiasts. Dieter Jermann, Director Swiss Market, Pirelli Tyre (Europe) SA, personally received the ‘Best Brand Award 2009’ during the l’Auto Zürich Car Show, the most important and most visited car fair in German Switzerland, which took place in the city from 5-8 November.

Pirelli Tyre receives the Innovation Award in the "Day of Research"

Rome, 6 November – On the occasion of the VII Giornata della Ricerca (VII Day of Research), an awards ceremony took place for the 2009 Premio Imprese x Innovazione  (2009 Award for Business Innovations) won last June by Pirelli Tyre, together with Datalogic and Whirlpool Europe, in the ‘large corporations’ category “for the major contribution of innovation to business results, achieved through the integration of concepts and instruments of innovation into the daily activities of personnel at all levels of the organisation”.

The awards scheme, launched by Confindustria (the Confederation of Italian Industry) in collaboration with APQI – Associazione Premio Qualità Italia (the Quality Award Association of Italy) and a number of experts of the sector, has as its objective to make known and diffuse organisational and strategic models oriented toward growth through innovation.

The Premio was received on behalf of Pirelli Tyre by Maurizio Boiocchi, head of the company’s Product Development. The ceremony was attended by the President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano, the president of Confindustria Emma Marcegaglia, the vice-president for Research&Innovation Diana Bracco and Mariastella Gelmini, Minister of Education, as a testimony to the authorititativeness of this initiative, now in its third year.

To know more and to listen to the interview to M. Boiocchi (available in Italian only):

http://www.confindustriaixi.it

EIB and Pirelli: 100 million euro financing agreement signed in support of R&D for 2009-2012

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Pirelli signed a financing agreement today for a 100 million euros loan from EIB for support of projects in the area of Pirelli Group research and development for 2009-2012.

The loan is for support of research and development in the field of product and manufacturing process innovation for reduction of the environmental impact of tyres, among other things, improving their performance and safety standards thanks to identification of innovative materials and components. The project regards activities of the various research and development centers of Pirelli in Italy and abroad, and was finalized as part of the 200 million euros credit line resolved upon by EIB last July.

The new loan consolidates the relationship between Pirelli and EIB, which in the past contributed to the Group’s constant commitment to innovation and development of its competitiveness on a global scale.

“We are happy to continue in our tradition of supporting the Pirelli Group, which makes investment in research one of the pillars of its policy for growth in international markets, placing great attention on the goal of reduction of polluting emissions – which is a priority for EIB,” said Dario Scannapieco, EIB vice president in charge of Italy, Malta and the Western Balkans.

“The loan from EIB,” said Marco Tronchetti Provera, chairman of Pirelli “represents a contribution to and an important recognition of the research activity of Pirelli, which has always been strongly committed in this direction with the aim of improving quality of products for the benefit of consumers and the competitiveness of the Group on the market. Today, in particular, this effort shows us committed to development of products and processes that are more and more eco-compatible, that is, oriented towards adopting technologies that offer customers not only safety and high performance, but also solutions which are respectful of the environment.”

Download EIB and Pirelli joint press release(pdf)