Bridgestone launches Duravis van tyre

Bridgestone has launched its most innovative and sustainable light-commercial tyre, Duravis Van, featuring its Enliten technology for the first time in a replacement specification tyre for the Australian and New Zealand market.

Bridgestone said Enliten is the company’s base technology for product design, enabling ultimate customisation in safety, sustainability, and performance. Enliten technology provides Duravis Van with low-rolling resistance for efficiency, durability for wear life and excellent wet and dry braking performance.

Duravis Van has been engineered with the evolving needs of the last-mile delivery market as the centre of its development. Using Enliten technology, Duravis Van is EV-ready and is designed, developed, and produced in Europe – ensuring suitability for the increasingly popular European-built light commercial vehicle models.

Director of Sales at Bridgestone Australia, Claudio Sodano, says the introduction of Duravis Van is significant because of the new technology, and the evolution of the light commercial sector.

“There’s no doubt that the light commercial space is undergoing considerable change. Not only is this part of the market growing, but the emergence of electric vans changes the operational requirements – and that’s why the launch of Duravis Van is so significant,” Mr Sodano said.

“Duravis Van is a really exciting product for us, because it’s not only our most advanced light-commercial vehicle tyre ever, but it’s also Australia’s introduction to our Enliten technology – which is a design philosophy that will underpin our future product developments across all segments.”

The durability of Enliten technology is already proven on Australian roads through the recent Bridgestone World Solar Challenge – an event Bridgestone uses as a platform to challenge its sustainable tyre technology in a "mobile lab". Nearly all teams competing in the 2023 event utilised specially developed Enliten equipped tyres for maximum efficiency and durability.

With this technology, Bridgestone says it remains committed to ensuring the highest levels of safety in both dry and wet conditions, while also delivering outstanding performance in the focus area of each product, delivering on the key criteria for the customer.

“Each product development has specific objectives for performance. For Duravis Van, these were to maximise the efficiency for light commercial vehicle operators, be durable and have great braking capabilities, while also being a more sustainable choice,” Mr Sodano added.

Duravis Van enters the Australian market in seven sizes ranging from 195/70R15C to 225/55R17C, covering the majority of European built and designed vans including Ford Transit and E Transit Custom, Mercedes-Benz Vito/eVito and Viano/V-Class, VW Transporter, Renault Master, and LDV V80, eDeliver and Deliver 9. The introduction of the Duravis Van also sees Bridgestone offer a solution in the 205/65R15C and 225/55R17C sizes, closing a gap in the light commercial vehicle range.

Bridgestone Australia & New Zealand Managing Director, Heath Barclay, believes that the Duravis Van is the solution to the emerging challenges in the light commercial vehicle sector.

“Fleets face many challenges in lowering their costs, maximising efficiency, reducing CO2 emissions, and overcoming the complexities of the last-mile delivery model. The launch of the Bridgestone Duravis Van tyre is the answer to all of these through lower fuel or energy use, and reduced downtime because of its durability,” Mr Barclay said.

This innovative tyre has achieved the balance between rolling resistance, performance and durability through the use of its Nano Pro-Tech equipped compound, advanced mixing methods, design of the tread pattern and construction of the tyre.

Bridgestone says that compared to the Duravis R660, Duravis Van boasts up to 21% improvement in rolling resistance, delivering excellent fuel economy for ICE vehicles and energy efficiency for electric vehicles, contributing to reduced operating expenses through fuel savings or extended range and increased productivity.

The optimised crown shape of the tyre maximises contact with the road to deliver strong dry braking performance. The advanced symmetrical tread pattern helps reduce road noise while also supporting reduced irregular wear thanks to its rib stiffness.

Duravis Van’s construction also meets the demands of electric vehicles with a high wear tolerance to counter the increased weight and higher torque of EVs, while the low-rolling resistance supports efficient mileage.

Duravis Van is a key product in Bridgestone’s fleet solutions offering as well as being available through the national network of Bridgestone Select Tyre & Auto and Bridgestone Service Centre stores, and good tyre retailers.