New Goodyear tyre

The Excellence comes with "3Zone Technology", which is designed to increase wet grip, improve corner¬ing and help create a smoother and quieter ride, ideal for luxury performance vehicles. The Excellence will be avail¬able in 1517 inches and cost Bt2,600 to Bt 4,800.

"Wet grip is something that we have given increasing focus to in Thailand. Since safety means the shortest braking distance, we have ensured that our products are able to perform their best when wet," said Goodyear Asean managing director Richard Fleming.

Earlier this year, the company also launched the Durasport, aimed mainly at pickups but with advanced wetconditions performance.

"Some of our products, like the Durasport, are designed specifically for the Thai market. The combina¬tion of the compounds in the tyres that we ship around Asean all have different specifications, according to the weather and usage conditions in each country," said Fleming.

The Goodyear Excellence, which is in direct compe¬tition with Michelin's MXV8 and Bridgestone's GR80, will see more than 90 per cent of its production in Thailand. It will be launched in other markets in Asia over the next three months.

This year, Goodyear has already launched five prod¬ucts and will launch one more towards the end of the year. Another product is set to be launched next year and will complete Goodyear's product range of in Thailand.

The Excellence is also an originalequipmentman¬ufacturer product for the Toyota Corolla Altis in Thailand and the MercedesBenz CClass in Malaysia.