Pirelli Tire North America has decided not to pursue an extension of its three-year supply contract with the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series after the conclusion of its 2010 racing season.

Pirelli began its relationship with Grand-Am in the 2008 season with an agreement to provide its P Zero Racing Slick and P Zero Racing Rain tires to the series participants for three years.  The three-year agreement expires at the end of the 2010 season, closing out a very successful relationship wherein Pirelli’s P Zero Race tires are expected to once again deliver speed, endurance and durability records.

“We decided not to pursue renewing our contract with Grand-Am, in order to redeploy our resources on sustainable growth with a wider range of Motorsports customers throughout North America and with a goal of improved profitability,” said Tom Gravalos, Pirelli’s Vice President of Motorsports, Marketing and Original Equipment Sales.  “Pirelli’s North American Motorsport operations will reinforce our national network of Motorsport tire distribution while accessing a greater breadth of the race tire market.  Pirelli looks forward to continued successes with Grand-Am in the upcoming 2010 season.”

With over 100 years of Motorsport victories, Pirelli’s experience on and off the track plays a key role in the company’s success, and it remains the industry leader for innovative, technological and environmentally sustainable products that perform for dealers and consumers alike.

Pirelli Tire North America designs, develops, manufactures and markets tires for passenger vehicles in both the original equipment and replacement markets as well as markets and distributes tires for motorcycle and motorsports. Located in Rome, Georgia, Pirelli’s Modular Integrated Robotized System (MIRS) employs state-of-the-art technology to manufacture tires for both export and domestic markets.  For more information please visit www.us.pirelli.com.

Las Vegas, NV – Pirelli continues to maintain its position as an industry leader in innovation and versatile fitments for all types of vehicles, and is pleased to introduce the Scorpion Verde All Season.  This tire, which is the newest addition to the Pirelli Scorpion Family of SUV, Crossover and Light Truck tires, will be unveiled at the Pirelli booth at the 2009 Speciality Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) convention in Las Vegas.

Scorpion Verde All Season

The Scorpion Verde All Season is the Green Performance tire designed specifically for SUV’s, Crossovers and Light Trucks.  It offers drivers increased performance in wet braking, dry handling, wet handling and snow traction, while reducing aquaplaning.      In addition, through decreased rolling resistance and an 8% reduction in weight, the Scorpion Verde All Season lowers CO2 emissions.

The Scorpion Verde All Season’s use of improved compounds helps deliver longer tread life for consumers.  It simply outperforms the competition with its optimized rubber to void ratio, special silica tread compound and uniform contact pressure.  All this means improved wear uniformity, which equals higher mileage and a stable footprint.

Green Performance – It’s all in the genes.

Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season’s Green DNA is evident both in performance and in appearance. Each tire has Pirelli’s EcoImpact icons on its sidewall.  The icons represent the ideas that make the Scorpion Verde All Season special.

Pirelli’s Green Performance Strategy

Pirelli’s Green Performance strategy translates into new products and new production systems with reduced environmental impact and low energy consumption – all while focusing on quality and added safety.  Investments in technology and innovation run parallel to ambitious objectives such as pushing the green proportion of our tires from the current 20% to 40% by 2011, as well as offering mobility that joins added safety and performance to environmental sustainability.

Pirelli has come to market not only with new Green tire lines, but also solutions for sustainable mobility and reduction of emissions of diesel engines – including “white diesel” (Gecam™) clean diesel fuel, and Feelpure™ particulate filter systems. These systems, which reduce particulate emissions by more than 90%, are already in use in various parts of the world as retrofits on buses and heavy vehicles.  These were introduced at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing on municipal buses and are used as original equipment for new diesel powered cars.

Pirelli – Worldwide Leader in Sustainability

Pirelli’s approach to green performance and its position as a world leader in sustainability is recognized globally.  In the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, Pirelli leads the Auto Parts and Tire Sector for the third year in a row in sustainability, and was confirmed in the twice-yearly review of Financial Times’ sustainability indices for seven consecutive years.  In 2009, the Pirelli Group improved by 11% to a global rating of 88%, in a segment that averages 48%. These ratings come in part because of the efficiencies in production processes and in lowering energy consumption.  Pirelli’s Eco-Sustainability strategy resulted in its lowering of water consumption levels 12.7%, energy consumption 9.2%, and both its CO2 and NOx emissions by 8.9 and 14.9% respectively over the last four years.

Scorpion Verde All Season – A Green Tire.  Available Only in Black.

‘Power is nothing without control’ is the essence of Pirelli’s products and action; high performance, research and innovation are combined with responsibility, safety, respect for the environment and sustainability. Just as Pirelli transitions the Green proportion of its product mix from 20% to 40% by 2011, its creation of the new Scorpion Verde All Season demonstrates Pirelli’s commitment to added safety, quality and sustainability.  The world’s first SUV, Crossover and Light Truck tire specifically designed for eco-conscious consumers, the Scorpion Verde All Season provides the added safety that consumers have been looking for – all under the banner of Green Performance.

Pirelli Tire North America designs, develops, manufactures and markets tires for passenger vehicles in both the original equipment and replacement markets as well as markets and distributes tires for motorcycle and motorsports. Located in Rome, Georgia, Pirelli’s Modular Integrated Robotized System (MIRS) employs state-of-the-art technology to manufacture tires for both export and domestic markets.  For more information please visit www.us.pirelli.com.

###

Media Contacts:

Rafael Navarro, Director Communications & Motorsports

951-533-0305    rafael.navarro@pirelli.com

Joe Severns, Public Relations Manager

706-506-2195    joe.severns@pirelli.com