Michelin Wins Prestigious Edison Marketing Award For Zero-Pressure Tire Technology
23 March 1998
Michelin Wins Prestigious Edison Marketing Award For Zero-Pressure Tire Technology
NEW YORK, March 23 -- The Michelin MXV4 ZP tire was awarded
the American Marketing Association's prestigious Edison Gold Award for Best
New Automotive Product of 1997. The award was presented to Michelin at a
ceremony in New York City on Thursday, March 19.
"We are very pleased to win this prestigious award," said Tom Chubb,
Michelin brand marketing manager. "Having the MXV4 ZP chosen the best new
automotive product of 1997 reinforces our leadership position in this segment,
as well as the fact that Michelin is still the only tire maker which currently
offers a `run-flat' tire for regular passenger cars."
Michelin's family of zero-pressure tires eliminates the inconvenience and
hazard of changing a flat tire, thus providing consumers with added piece-of-
mind.
The Edison Best New Products Awards recognizes new products that exemplify
exceptional creativity and innovation. A panel of more than 3,500 senior
marketing and advertising executives from across the country selects products
and services that excel in marketplace and technological innovation,
marketplace success, market structure innovation and societal impact.
Established in 1987, the Edison Awards are named appropriately after
Thomas Edison whose intuitive new product developments awarded him over 200
patents throughout his lifetime. Today, the Edison Award has become one of
the most prestigious honors a marketer can receive because it symbolizes
America's drive to remain at the forefront of product innovation, creativity
and ingenuity.
Michelin has several zero-pressure tire lines currently available in the
marketplace. Its "family" of ZP tires can travel up to 200 miles at 55 miles
per hour after suffering a total air loss. The tires are currently available
in seven different sizes and fit more than 50% of passenger cars produced in
the last five years, including the Honda Accord, Ford Taurus, Dodge Caravan
minivan and BMW 328i.
Michelin is still the only tire manufacturer to offer a zero-pressure tire
as an original equipment option on a passenger sedan with its MXV4 ZP on the
Lincoln Continental.
"There has been a lot of noise and promises in the marketplace about the
availability of run-flat tires in the future," said Chubb. "But we are
already there, and the success of our zero-pressure tires is yet another
example of Michelin's technological leadership in the tire industry."
Michelin manufactures and sells tires for every type of vehicle -- from
bicycles to trucks, from automobiles to the space shuttle, from agricultural
to earthmover equipment. Michelin North America, headquartered in Greenville,
South Carolina, employs 23,000 and operates 22 plants.
SOURCE Michelin North America