Magazine for the professional tire industry
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MTD August 2016 BMW's run-flat tire philosophy 'We don't want to mess with something that's working' By Joy Kopcha B MWs are far from the best-selling vehicles in the U.S. Halfway through 2016 BMW sales amounted to not quite 2% market share with a lile more than 153,000 vehicles sold, according to statistics compiled by Good Car Bad Car. Still, that relatively tiny segment of new car sales is a driver for an entire category of tire technology: run-flat tires. e German luxury brand has been a leader in the use of run-flat tires. "We're at the forefront of bringing this in the U.S. and really taking on the challenges of the misconcep- tions in the industry about why certain people would prefer non-run-flats versus run-flats," says Jose Guerrero, product manager for BMW i, BMW M, BMW Individual, and BMW Alpina. "We feel strongly that the run-flat solution for many of our drivers makes sense." And that's why run-flat tires are the standard on nearly every BMW vehicle sold in America. e only exceptions are the automaker's electric vehicle line, the BMW i, and its motorsport line, the BMW M. On the BMW i the heavier weight of run-flat tires reduces the vehicle's range, and the company doesn't yet have large enough baeries to offset the drag from that weight, Guerrero says. As for the BMW M, those drivers are looking for performance on the track, and they instead opt for more performance-driven tires. "But those are the minority of our sales. ose are exceptions." Otherwise, Guerrero says run-flat tires rule. "All cars, all platforms, all series have a run-flat slot and they're typically standard. But what we have are options. Especially in our most popular sizes there's a requirement that it has to have a run-flat, and a non-run-flat with a spare. But the take rates for those non-run-flats are very small. Most BMW customers appreciate the service of run-flats and they leave it alone." Guerrero says run-flat tires are a good fit for what he calls the BMW experience. "We always try to put ourselves in the seats of our customers. We know that when something goes wrong, when there is tire damage of some sort, asking a BMW driver to pull over and, sometimes at the most inopportune times, change their own tires, is not a premium experience," Guerrero says. "Purchasing a BMW you have a certain expectation of quality and an overall premium experience, and that's where changing a tire falls flat feature The advantage of BMWs to their owners becomes clear when they suffer tire injuries that force tire replacement, says BMW's Jose Guerrero. "They know that the run-flats got them to where they needed to be." 24