DEARBORN, Mich.—Pirelli Tire North America has designed a "tailor-made" Pirelli Scorpion ATR tire for the 2021 Ford F-150 pickup line—which went on sale this fall—and intends to use the product as the basis for a broader range of Scorpion light truck line to be launched in 2021.
Among the tire's performance improvements, according to Pirelli, are a 3-decibel reduction in noise generation, "secure" wet handling and snow grip and "maximum" dry-weather grip with reduced rolling resistance.
The new ATR is the latest development in a 20-plus-year partnership between Ford and Pirelli, the tire maker said, covering 15 iterations of the venerable Ford pickup.
The 2021 F-150 is, according to Ford, the most powerful light-duty full-size pickup truck on the market, with a 3.5-liter V-6 PowerBoost hybrid powertrain mated to a 10-speed SelectShift automatic transmission with a 35-kilowatt electric motor integrated into the transmission. This package delivers 430 horsepower and 570 foot-pounds of torque, Ford said.
The latest Scorpion iteration represents over two and half years of joint development work by Ford and Pirelli engineers through a homologation process that Pirelli said involved co-design, prototyping, industrialization phases, severe indoor testing and hundreds of hours of simulation and modeling.
To achieve these goals, Pirelli deployed its most advanced simulation and engineering tools to meet Ford's demanding tire specification targets at every iteration of development. This digital and collaborative design approach significantly increased development speed and optimized tire performance, along with a reduction in the number of physical tires tested.
The Scorpion ATR tires for the latest Ford F-150 model are available in two sizes: 275/60R20 and 265/70R17.
Pirelli did not comment further on its plans for an additional Scorpion model range incorporating these developments.