Pirelli at a glance
The story of Pirelli tyres began in Milan in 1872, when Giovanni Battista Pirelli founded a rubber goods company. At first it made rubber articles and cables; tyres came later. Pirelli is one of the oldest tyre manufacturers still in business. Since 2011, Pirelli has been the sole tyre supplier to Formula 1. The Pirelli name is also famous thanks to the Pirelli Calendar, published since 1964.
Pirelli is listed on the Milan stock exchange. Since 2015 its largest shareholder has been the Chinese state-owned company Sinochem, and the other major shareholder is Marco Tronchetti Provera's Camfin. Its factories are in Italy, Germany, Romania, the United Kingdom, Turkey and Russia, as well as in the Americas and Asia. Pirelli focuses on more expensive cars and larger rims. The brand suits drivers of more powerful cars who value sporty handling.
For Nordic winters, Pirelli offers the Ice Zero 2 studded tyre and the Ice Zero Asimmetrico non-studded tyre. Its best-known Central European winter tyres are the Winter Sottozero 3 and Cinturato Winter 2. The most common summer tyres are the Cinturato P7 and the sporty P Zero, with the Scorpion series for SUVs. For year-round use there is the Cinturato All Season SF 3. Many car makers fit Pirelli tyres to new cars straight from the factory.