Pirelli's Scorpion Zero All-season tire will be featured as original equipment tire for the new Jaguar Land Rover Defender.

Pirelli’s engineers worked in tandem with their counterparts from Land Rover to design bespoke Scorpion Zero All Season tires for the new Defender: Land Rover’s off-roading icon, as part of an intense development programme that took place all over the world in the most extreme conditions possible.

OFF-ROAD SPIRIT BUT TOP OF THE CLASS IN ROLLING RESISTANCE

The Pirelli Scorpion Zero All Season was born as an Ultra High Performance (UHP) tire, intended for SUVs and designed to deliver excellent levels of comfort and safety as well as reducing noise, while providing maximum performance throughout every season: both in the dry and in the wet.

In order to hit Land Rover’s target of having tires in class A of rolling resistance, Pirelli’s engineers worked from the ‘standard’ Scorpion Zero All Season, in 19 to 20-inch sizes, to increase its off-road ability and reduce rolling resistance to a minimum. A true challenge for Pirelli, with Land Rover being one of the first manufacturers in the world to focus on reduced emissions for its new off-roaders.

The development of the new tire followed Pirelli’s ‘perfect fit’ philosophy, using new materials for the structure and compounds to be classified in class A for rolling resistance, which was specifically requested for off-road and wet grass performance. For this specific test, conducted on a hill, Land Rover tested Pirelli’s Scorpion Zero All Season both uphill at constant speed as well as sideways across the slope in order to assess lateral grip on wet grass.

To meet Land Rover’s performance and efficiency targets for the Defender, the Scorpion Zero All Season tires underwent a modification to the structure, with a new design on the shoulder and a double tread block, which improves grip on mud, grass, and snow. This is essential to the Defender’s performance and stability: even at high speeds and on typically off-road surfaces.

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Pirelli creates bespoke tires for the Jaguar Land Rover Defender