From mid October to late December 2009, or until inventory runs out, transport operators could equip their commercial vehicles with particulate filters produced by Pirelli Eco Technology, benefitting from the Pirelli incentive plan.
The campaign, whose aim is to stimulate immediate adoption of the filter systems, which allow for containment of substances damagining to the environment and to health in emissions from the most polluting vehicles, includes three categories of incentives based on type of vehicle: 500 euros for light commercial vehicle filters (vans, minivans, minibuses, etc.), 750 euros for midsized commercial vehicle filters and 1000 euros for filters for heavy commercial vehicles (trucks).
The Pirelli incentives are cumulative with those available from the public administration, for example the Lombardy Region, for purchase and fitting of particulate filter systems.
Feelpure particulate filters remove more than 90% of fine and ultra-fine particle matter emissions (Pm10 and lower), the most dangerous to human health, and 50% of nitrogen dioxide of emissions. Installation of Feelpure filters allows Euro 1-2 vehicles to reach the Euro 4 vehicle category, and Euro 3 vehicles to reach the Euro 5 vehicle category.

For more information on how to access incentives, see www.pirelliecotechnology.com.

Pirelli signed a memorandum of understanding with the Hixih Group, a pneumatic manufacturer partner of the Pirelli Group since 2005; the agreement concerns the realization of a filter production plant in Yanzhou. The understanding falls within the scope of memorandums signed with the Italian Ministry of Territorial Protection, Water and Environment and will lead to the realization of a new factory, whose construction is expected for the first quarter of 2010. This new facility will be located in province of Shandong, where the two truck and car tyre production sites are located, hence creating a new diversified industrial development centre, capable of using the synergy from the production and from the commercialisation of the two products. The expended investment according to the 2009-2011 industrial plan, could arrive to 50 million euros within this three-year period (15-20 million euros for Eco Technology), entailing a productive capacity of about 100 thousand filters per year and about 1,200 employees.

The two agreements that were stipulated in China for cutting down polluting emissions give Pirelli a strategy opportunity to launch its particle filters. The Italian Ministry of Territorial Protection, Water and Environment and the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, in the presence of the Italian Minister, Stefania Prestigiacomo, the Chinese authorities and the CEO of the Pirelli Group, Marco Tronchetti Provera, signed a memorandum of understanding, which plans the development of projects to launch filtration systems for cutting down emissions of diesel powered vehicles already in circulation (’retrofit‘); the memorandum also includes the installation of advanced technologies, like Pirelli technologies that passed the tests conducted in 2008. The agreement concerns five provinces selected by the Chinese government in order to adopt restrictive measures for prohibiting the circulation of polluting vehicles, including the province of Shandong wherein Pirelli’s pneumatic production sites are located; furthermore the agreement is implemented in the environmental cooperation programme that was signed by the two ministers in the year 2000. The second agreement involves the Italian Ministry of Territorial Protection, Water and Environment, the Municipality of  Beijing and Pirelli Eco Technology, and concerns the installation of a significant number of samples of Pirelli’s filtration systems for the buses of Peking. The agreement concludes the testing started in 2008, which led to the type-approval of Pirelli’s filters thanks to their distinctive technological features.