Pirelli: Preliminary Agreement Signed With Hixih Group To Build Particulate Filter Factory. Industrial Hub Created In Shandong Province

The new factory will require an investment in different phases which on the basis of the evolution of the market could reach 50 million euros over three years, with annual production of around 100 thousand filters and 1200 employees

Beijing, 15 September 2009 – Pirelli signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” with Hixih Group (previously the Yinhe Group), already a partner of Pirelli since 2005 in tyre manufacturing, to build a plant for manufacturing of filters in Yanzhou, in the province of Shandong.

The agreement is linked to the protocols signed today with the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People’s Republic of China and the Municipality of Beijing for distribution of cutting edge technologies for reduction of polluting emissions from diesel vehicles in China. The agreement will allow Pirelli to strengthen and consolidate the presence it has had in China since 2005.

The new factory, whose construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of  2010, will be located in the same area where the manufacturing sites developed by the two partners for production of truck and car tyres were built, and will thus create a diversified industrial hub able to profit from synergies in manufacturing and distribution of the two products.
The plant for particulate filters, both ‘retrofit’ and for original equipment, will be developed gradually. The investment, already included in the 2009-2011 industrial plan, will take into account the evolution of the market and could reach 50 million euros in three years, with manufacturing capacity of around 100,000 filters per year and approximately 1200 employees.

The Feelpure™ filter systems produced by Pirelli Eco Technology are able to reduce particulate emissions from diesel engines by more than 90%, and NO2 emissions by 50%. The systems can be installed on vehicles already in circulation (retrofit), representing an immediate and affordable application, which guarantees significant environmental advantages in a short time.  Following the pilot project launched in Beijing in 2008, the filters produced by the Pirelli Group, thanks to their particular technological characteristics, were recently homologated. The Beijing Municipality has already ordered a significant quantity of Pirelli Eco Technology filter systems which will be fitted on buses in the capital city.

The Pirelli Group has had an industrial presence in China since 2005, when its first factory for truck tyres was built in Yanzhou in the Shandong province. In the same area, at the end of 2007, the Group launched a second factory for manufacturing of high performance car tyres.
With investments amounting to more than 2 billion RMB, or more than 200 million euros, as of today, the industrial site currently uses advanced manufacturing technology and represents a manufacturing, logistics and commercial hub for the entire Asia-Pacific region for the Pirelli Group. Today about 60% of Pirelli’s overall production in China is for the local market, while the remaining 40% is exported to other Asia-Pacific markets.

With a headcount of nearly 2,000 employees, today the two factories produce about 700,000 tyres per year in the truck segment and 2.5 million tyres in the car segment: the industrial plan target is to reach about one million truck tyres and about 5 million car tyres in the 2009-2011 three-year period.

The plan for creating a site for production of particulate filters represents the third phase of development for the Pirelli Group in China and a further step in its international consolidation. Today Pirelli counts 23 factories in 12 countries.

China, in particular, represents one of the most interesting markets for Pirelli, where the brand of the Italian group is rapidly affirming itself. In 2008 the Group photographed and presented the ‘Pirelli Calendar’ in Shanghai, and, more recently, signed an agreement for three-year sponsorship of the main Chinese football championship, the ‘Chinese Super League’, now called the ‘Pirelli Super League’.

Italian environment ministry and Chinese ministry of environmental protection sign agreement with Pirelli for distribution of technologies for reduction of polluting diesel vehicle emissions in China

Additional agreement signed with Italian environment ministry and municipality of beijing for distribution of particulate filters in the chinese capital city
Beijing, 15 September 2009 – The Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People’s Republic of China, and the Pirelli Group signed a protocol agreement for distribution of technologies for reduction of diesel vehicle emissions in China. The signing took place today in Beijing, in the presence of the Italian Minister, Stefania Prestigiacomo, Chinese authorities, and the Chairman of the Pirelli Group, Marco Tronchetti Provera.

The agreement is part of the environmental cooperation program launched by the two ministries in 2000, with implementation of more than 90 cooperation projects for containment of environmental impact through development and distribution of cutting edge Italian technologies.

The agreement foresees collaboration among the three parties in development of projects for distribution of filter systems for reduction of particulate emissions from diesel vehicles already in circulation (‘retrofit’) and introduction of technologies and advanced products, as the Pirelli products have been shown to be following tests and pilot projects already completed.

Technologies for containment of vehicle pollution represent one of the most promising markets in China, given the growing attention that the local institutions are reserving to environmental problems. A joint commitment by the Italian environment ministry and the Chinese environmental protection ministry will focus on the five provinces recently singled out by the Chinese government for adoption of measures to limit circulation of polluting vehicles, among which Shandong (the location of the Pirelli plant) alone counts more than 100 million inhabitants, for distribution of filter systems of Pirelli Eco Technology, as already done in Beijing.

The second protocol agreement signed today by the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, the Municipality of Beijing, and Pirelli Eco Technology to support installation of filters on polluting vehicles circulating in Beijing, is part of this commitment. The agreement follows the completion of a pilot project launched in 2008, which brought homologation of the filters produced by the Pirelli Group, thanks to their particular technological characteristics. The city of Beijing has already ordered a significant quantity of Pirelli Eco Technology filter systems which will be fitted on buses in the capital city.

With 7 million euro financing from the region, Pirelli technology will remove
44 tons of particulate matter per year

Milan, 19 March 2009 – Pirelli Eco Technology has begun installing particulate filters on public transportation buses in Piedmont. By the end of September 2009, the Pirelli Group company which operates in the field of emissions control technology will install its filters on 879 regional buses, with the capacity to reduce particulate emissions by a minimum of 90% and nitrogen dioxide emissions by 50%.

The installation is going ahead thanks to 7 million euros appropriated by the Piedmont Region in the context of a plan to improve air quality, with a commitment on the part of GTT-Gruppo Torinese Trasporti in the role of lead company for the bidding procedures and with the collaboration of vehicle dealer Orecchia SpA.

Pirelli technology will thus contribute to reducing the environmental impact of emissions in Piedmont, by raising the standards of buses involved from Euro 2 emissions levels to Euro 5, eliminating about 19 tons of particulate matter per year in the city of Turin and 44 tons per year in the region as a whole. At the end of February 2009, there were already more than 270 filter systems installed on buses in the fleet of the Piedmont public transportation company.

“The choice by the Piedmont Region illustrates the usefulness of the technology created by Pirelli in support of the public transportation company’s commitment to combating particulate emissions,” said Bruno Tronchetti Provera, CEO of Pirelli Eco Technology. “With the simple substitution of the muffler and installation of our filter system, public transportation companies can reach emissions levels foreseen by Euro 5 norms, significantly improving city air quality with benefits for the health of citizens, without substituting their existing fleets, and taking advantage of eco-incentives under the recent auto industry stimulus plan.”

The Pirelli filter system has four main elements: a particulate filter in silicon carbide made up of a honeycomb-type structure that traps the particulate matter, mainly composed of carbon particles of various sizes (the so-called PM10), a silencer which houses the particulate filter, a fuel additive (ferrocene) which allows complete combustion when a temperature of around 250/280°C is reached, and a control unit for controlling the proper functioning of the system.