Pirelli has the penchant for perfection. These days, the world's fifth-largest tire manufacturer in Italy is launching a new shop concept with the long-drawn P in the black and yellow logo in Germany. After Los Angeles last year, the choice for the location of a new "P Zero World" did not fall by chance on Munich. After all, the Bavarian capital in this country undoubtedly has the greatest density of sports and luxury automobiles and thus of financially potent customers, for which the leading original equipment manufacturer of the premium and prestige class wants to offer the corresponding perfect service. The bill should work. In the first half of the year, Pirelli, who calls himself a 145-year-old start-up, while celebrating his return to the stock market, made a profit of 67,6 million euros. Until 2020, Pirelli aims for an annual sales increase of on average nine percent.
On the evening of the opening of the new Pirelli “P Zero World” in Munich, two delicately dressed beauties from the large-format black and white print look sensually at the approximately 270 invited guests. Protagonists of one of the editions of the almost legendary Pirelli calendar, in which well-known fashion photographers take pictures of beauties undressed or clothed, sometimes with and sometimes without tires and with which the tire manufacturer delights a carefully selected and very small number of its customers and friends year after year. You cannot buy the calendar, also simply called "the cal". Exclusivity for a PR product. A scam that should also pull for the new shops in the premium and prestige area. The “P Zero Worlds” are named after the Pirelli P Zero, a summer tire from the upper price segment.
It still smells of fresh color. The middle of the room, with a stylish espresso bar in the corner, is dominated by F1 on loan from Red Bull. Until the end of 2019, Pirelli is the sole supplier to all Formula 1 teams. On the walls hangs the portfolio of high performance and ultra high performance. Intuitive objects for undecided customers, but also log in to the shop-wlan and on the Pirelli side can configure their own personal equipment. Only black is long out, Pirelli now also offers tires with colored flank decoration. Only red, yellow, white and silver, soon the decorative elements will be available in any other color. After the debut on sports cars of Lamborghini and McLaren, the color edition is also available for brands such as Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari and Porsche. Later, colored tires will also follow for premium segment vehicles.
Through a glass partition wall in the shop, one can see the service bays in the workshop, which actually does not deserve this name, but rather that of an operating room. While you are slurping on your staff, you can watch the tire change or check the tire pressure in peace. Anyone who has an app from the “Connesso” tire monitoring system from Pirelli, in which a sensor on the inner wall of the tire communicates with the driver, also knows exactly when the tire pressure is back in the green range and when the loved one is up after a glance at the smartphone four wheels can be received again.
Access to the new P Zero World in Munich was opened this week. Incidentally, not only for drivers of a McLaren, Ferrari or Land Rover or any other vehicle in the upper “ten thousand”, although it must be admitted that the upper or luxury class in Germany has long since taken up a larger area with a little over 27 vehicles in 000. Vehicles belonging to “normal consumers” who would like to help with products from other tire manufacturers are also welcome. Another tip for all male and, of course, female customers: If it takes a little longer, the new Pirelli Shop has the retrospective volume with all and really all reprints of the complete Pirelli calendar to leaf through.
Text: Solveig Grewe
Pictures: Solveig Grewe, Pirelli
