The Miami Open is a big tennis event in Miami. Pirelli is involved because it helps the brand connect with the kind of people who like cars and premium experiences.
They’re talking about Pirelli’s business across North America—Mexico, the U.S., and Canada. It’s presented as an important and growing market for the brand.
“Premium cars” generally refers to higher-end vehicles from luxury brands, which often use higher-performance tire sizes and more specialized tire fitments. The segment ties Pirelli’s market focus to places where these vehicles are common, like Miami.
This points to tire choice as a practical decision for everyday drivers, not just race teams. The segment implies that selecting the right tire for local conditions (like rain and road surface) affects performance and safety.
Rain changes tire behavior because water can reduce friction and create hydroplaning risk. That’s why tire tread design and compound matter for wet grip and stability.
“Truck segment” means tires made for pickup trucks and similar vehicles. They’re built to handle more weight and tougher driving than many regular car tires.
OEMs are Original Equipment Manufacturers—the car companies that build the vehicles. Tire makers often collaborate with OEMs so the tire matches the vehicle’s intended handling, comfort, and durability.
They’re saying tires aren’t “one size fits all.” In North America, buyers often care a lot about how long the tire lasts and what kind of performance they want.
These are the company’s research and development sites where new tire designs are created. Being close to where tires are made helps them improve faster.
They’re saying tires are being developed for electric cars already. EVs can stress tires differently than gas cars, so the tire design has to account for that.
“Light truck” typically refers to vehicles like pickups and SUVs that are classified differently than passenger cars, and they often have distinct tire fitments and demand patterns. In North America, light trucks are a major volume segment, so tire makers compete heavily here for both original equipment and replacement sales.
Bridgestone is a major tire brand. When the speaker says it’s an example of “Tier 1,” they mean it’s one of the biggest companies with strong market presence.
This means cars with bigger wheels—18 inches and larger. Those cars are often more premium, so tire demand in those sizes can grow even when other segments slow down.
Formula 1 is the highest level of car racing. The cars are very specialized race machines, and the races happen on tracks around the world.
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Picture this. A curve in the road. A change in plans. Well, what do you say?
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Where today I'm back at a place that I haven't been to in I don't know how many years, especially in this area, which I believe is close to the clubhouse where the Marlins used to play in 1997.
But we're not here for baseball. We're not here for, I mean car related, but anyway, we're here with Pirelli for the Miami Open with Claudio Sanardo, who is in charge of the whole North American region.
Yes, North American. So the Mexico. Mexico, US and Canada. One of the biggest market, more important markets for the company, I guess.
An extremely important market one that is extremely growing and we are working a lot here and we like a lot this part of the world because there is a lot of attention on our brand, on the premium cars.
And so wherever there is a premium car and there is a consumer that love cars, we are there. Will you agree? When I talk about Miami and fancy cars, sometimes I say like LA is bigger but Miami is fancier, right?
Miami is the paradise. It's the paradise for all these vehicles. So wherever you look around, you see amazing cars.
Yeah, we saw actually a Maybach with a pink wrap at a hotel. I don't know, taste is subjective, but anyway.
We like everything. People like it. We like it.
Yeah, you can ask Pirelli, Tires, even better.
Yes, and we are here with Don, the tour, and we were driving the car here from the hotel to the stadium and we have actually a common thread through our career.
We put the stadium together in 1997.
So you were a sports writer too and converted to cover.
I cover tires specifically.
Tires specifically, yep.
Yeah, so you're really the expert here, not me.
I'm not sure I'm the expert.
You can ask the intelligent questions, but let's go back to Claudia.
So why are we here? Why is Pirelli involved in tennis?
I know you're going to be here next month, actually, for Formula One and we know all the story about that, but why Pirelli at a...
We are extremely excited that we will come back here for Formula One in a month, but let's talk about the tennis one second.
So we are present everywhere.
There is passion, where there is the people that can understand the value and where there is the limit that is bringing to something.
So tennis is an incredible platform and we decided to come here as a partner of the Miami Open and taking our brand and talking with the American consumer to show them what we are.
And so we are a premium brand.
We are present with...
Our presence is here, but also we are present in a special place near the speed clock.
Oh, yeah, I saw that.
Exactly. Every time the player do the first shot, the serve, everybody can see the speed.
When there is a speed, we are there and Pirelli is there.
And it's very interesting with tires because people like the cars in general, but they don't think a lot, not many people.
People who know a lot, yes, but like in general, and it's the most important part of the car.
That's the only part that touches the ground.
You're right, you're right. It's a matter of safety for sure.
It's a matter of performances and our payoff is always power is nothing without control.
So you can have the best vehicle in the world.
You can have the best power, but if you don't control it, you are not able to bring this power to the ground.
And the only thing that brings the power to the ground and control as well the vehicle are the tires.
So you need good tires.
So here in Miami, we don't have mountains, we don't have anything.
Our roads are so boring, like straight and flat, but it rains a lot and like there's a lot of construction and there's like a lot of things.
So I mean, people should think what tire to put in their cars, even though they're not going to run in the Formula One race or anything.
But why is that important?
The tires are extremely important for performances, because as I was saying, if you have a super sport car,
but you don't have the right way of bringing all this horsepower to the ground, you don't enjoy it.
And there is a matter of safety when it's raining, when there is a hot moment.
And so the tires are also something that change, considering the temperature, the situation of the day.
And so you need to have a good tire that is able to adapt and is able to react as well to the different styles, to different vehicles and whatever.
This is why it's extremely important.
Yeah.
You have a question?
Sure.
Claudio, if you could just kind of take a step back and tell me how business has been,
how it's been, where you see the market at, and where you see it going in 2026, the rest of 2026.
Yeah, it's not an easy question, but just because it's a very strange moment, this one.
Geopolitical things are going on everywhere, and this is starting to impact the behavior of the people, the consumer.
We see a market that was a little bit struggling the first couple of months of the year due to not a good weather, mainly, that went all across US mainly.
So all the Northeast was extremely impacted by a lot of snow in the last couple of months.
And then in March we see the opposite situation where the people are getting, again, changing their tires, buying new vehicles and whatever.
We, in this situation, we are going, we are going, thanks mainly, to the new product that we are developing and we are bringing to this market.
So a lot of new products that are now in the market from Pirelli, designed specifically for North America and for the US consumer, and the message had to come,
because we have a new other product that we will announce in a few weeks, in a few months.
And we think that the future is brilliant for us with a big interest on the Pirelli brand, from the trade side, but also from the consumer side.
And we are here at the tennis Miami Open, exactly for this, because we want to express, we want to show what we are and that we are the good answer to the demand of the American consumers.
What segment? Can you tell me what segment your new product will be in?
We are entering in, we just entered with new product on the truck segment, so with the XTM, the Scorpion XTM.
And also we are entering with new product on the passenger side and the light trucks and the SUV.
So this will be a Scorpion product?
It will be a Scorpion product.
And we are ready for this new Scorpion product that will be for the American, designed for the Americans.
And that is, it's really a good product, I had the chance to test it and I like it.
So I'm sure that also our trade partners and also our consumer will love it.
When do you expect that to be rolled out?
In the next couple of months.
Next couple of months.
Yeah, two, three months.
So in the same way that it happens with car manufacturers, you start working on these projects way before it hits the market.
And in the case of very specific or specialized cars or tires, you work with them like from the very beginning, right?
Yes, and don't show, you know, tires are, it seems to be easy because our other tires are all black.
But at the end, what is behind...
People don't see it.
Yes, what you don't see, what is behind that is an enormous level of research, the quantity of materials, the chemicals that are in and all the different materials that we developed.
Every little line that people don't, I mean, maybe millimeters.
It can make a huge difference.
Yes, it's a matter really of details.
And so also you have to work a lot on how you manufacture your product, how you design your product, how you develop your product.
And as you were saying, everything is made years before.
So year before starting and putting the product in the market, you start developing the product and even if it's a replacement line or if it's an original equipment line,
you start many, many years earlier and you test and you develop the product on one side together with the OEMs, with the car manufacturer,
on the other side with the best technicians in the world.
And then you do a lot of tests.
The test can be done in-house or can be done also together with the car makers.
And you reach a different level of quality of performances thanks to a lot of tests, a lot of research.
And now we are entering, or better, we are already in since many, many years, but now the phases, these things are happening very, very fast.
So we develop our product also thanks to a lot of virtualization.
So we develop specific virtual tools and algorithms that allow us to predict what is going on.
And so the speed that we can have on developing new product, new materials and having understanding as well the different situation that you can have when you're driving
can be tested and pre-tested also as a virtual with the schemes.
So this is something we are working a lot, both in North America, in the air and the centers that we have in Rome, Georgia,
and the ones that we have in Mexico where we have our plant.
Or is that Silao?
In Silao, the state.
And those in Milan where we have our headquarter and where we develop all our tires there.
What makes the North American market so unique?
What kind of, what are the differences you have to account for that you don't account for elsewhere?
The North American market is completely different from the European market, the Asian market, the South American one.
Here the consumers are looking for mileage, are looking for an old-season product and so are looking for different type of performances.
So we understood that, we developed products that are specifically designed now for the North American needs.
And this is the reason why we decided to open two air and the center, the Search and Development Center in North America.
So one in Rome, Georgia, and one in Silao, one in Guadalupe, Mexico.
Because this Search and Development Center needs to be near where we produce the tires, where we develop the tires.
We need to be fast.
So the consumer and the demand is to be extremely fast on reacting on what is going on.
And being near to that is fundamental.
Always in contact with the headquarter and with the other big teams that we have all around the world.
And if we work in this way together, you can be very, very fast.
And this is something unique for the ability of being able to react with agility.
Even though that right now the sentiment for electric cars from the government or from politics is not like 100% good,
but the tires is already, you're developing tires for electric cars that are very, very different from regular cars.
Can you tell the regular consumer why they should pay attention to that too?
Yes, it's extremely important because the vehicles are different.
The weight of the vehicle is different.
The torque that the vehicle is putting on the ground, the vehicles are doing that in a different way.
Much more faster, but with a different level as well.
And so you need to design a tire that is specifically designed for that.
Our strategy is the perfect fit.
Perfect fit that it means that you need to design, you need to produce the tires that are specifically made for that vehicle.
If it's a later vehicle, you need to have specific materials inside, specific design of the tread pattern.
And so, and also there's another interesting point that is beside the mileage that you can assure with the same charging of a battery.
So the life of your battery change, if you use a better tires, it's also the noise that is completely different.
The cabin, the car is quiet, you want more of that from the tire, right?
And the later vehicles, that's sort of wilding because it's made with all these components.
And when you're talking about an electric vehicle, the only noise that you can have is not anymore coming from the engine.
And so it's coming from the rolling of the tires.
And so you need to design tires that can absorb the noise.
Do you use foam in yours?
We use foam.
We have dedicated technology, the PNCS, Pirelli Noise Cancelling System, that is applied to the electric vehicles.
And so if you don't put the right tires on your vehicle, the performance is different in terms of performance of the vehicle,
but also in terms of the comfort that you feel when you drive it.
So this is why it's extremely important to have the right product for every vehicle.
So without revealing names or models or anything, can you tell something that a normal consumer would be really surprised?
Like, wow, they built that for a tire in the development because there's so much, as you said, a millimeter can be changed.
We said one thing at the beginning of our conversation that the tire is the only thing that touched the ground.
But there is another thing, so you can make the perfect tire that is able to react perfectly to the ground.
But how can you know what is going on?
And this is the future, and this is the future that is today.
We are developing and we are already putting on our tires a sensor that is able to understand what is going on
and is able to talk with the vehicle.
And giving the information to the vehicle much earlier, it's able to allow the vehicle to react as well to what is going on.
And when we said earlier, it's milliseconds, but it's an important difference.
Exactly, and it's a matter of safety.
It's a matter of understanding what is going on because if the vehicle is able to have the information earlier
or having the information at all, it's able to react.
It's able to give us support to the driver.
So this is the frontier.
We are developing this new technology and we are going to launch extremely interesting things in the next month on this part.
And that's the connection also with Formula One.
With car manufacturers use Formula One as a lab also, but you do too, right?
Formula One is an extraordinary laboratory for us in terms of developing new materials, in terms of developing new techniques as well to develop new products.
So when you are the peak of the technology in terms of the car industry, that is the Formula One, that are prototypes at the end.
So when you're there and you have to develop and you be extremely fast on reacting on the needs of the car, of that special car,
then you can be also faster and better on developing new products.
Amazing. So you have one more question.
I think we have to watch a match.
Talk about the Porelli's jump into the light truck market and how that's going and where you see that going.
It seems like you're all in with that.
It's an incredible big market and we want to be there and when we do the things, we want to be serious.
This is why we launched the XTM product at Pirelli's Corp in Xtreme last year and we are entering more and more new car vehicles as well and defining a product that can be really outstanding.
We want to be everywhere and there is a consumer, a premium consumer that wants to have the best quality, the best performances and a lot of consumers in the light truck business want that.
So SUV drivers and all the other light truck drivers, they want to have performances as well.
And so we want to be there.
And that's a North American.
It's North America.
It's the better market.
It's wild better than US and wild better than here to present the best technology.
The people I've talked to in the industry seem like the Tier 2's are getting squeezed out now.
They're either going to Tier 3's or premium and that's good for a Tier 1 company as yourself.
Can you explain Tier 1, Tier 2?
Tier 1 is a top manufacturer.
It's the Bridgestone.
The Big Guys.
The Major League.
Yes.
There are different tiers in the type of the tires.
The Tier 1 together with some few competitors.
And then there is a second tier and the third tier.
And somebody say a fourth and a fifth.
Yes, but we don't want to look to that part of the business.
We look to the market always up and where the people recognize a value.
Where there is a value and the Tier 1, the consumers recognize it.
It's always a market that is growing.
This is why we are there and why we compete in that market and we are extremely successful.
Because we are there and we know that also for the trade.
If the trade is concentrating its attention.
Where the consumer is looking for a reason why they can be successful together with us.
Because we like to do everything together with the trade.
And also helping them understanding this direction.
For sure the Tier 2 market is suffering.
But we see a Tier 1 market that is growing.
And as well an 18 inches up market that is always growing.
It's extremely resilient and more and more we look at that part of the market.
It is our market where we compete.
It's a growing market.
And so this is why we are extremely positive for the future.
Because all that part of the market where we compete is still growing.
Even if the rest is not.
What did you hear from the dealers that were here as far as the Pirelli strategy?
And what did you take from what they are doing?
I think they like what we are doing.
They appreciate the consistencies that we are bringing to the market.
And the new product that are defined, designed and are really made for US market.
So they start recognizing it and they appreciate it.
Because they know that we are not just the number one with the European brands.
But also with the Americas.
And so the collaboration we have with all the others.
With all the American brands, the electric brands.
But also the big Detroit guys is there.
And it's extremely interesting.
So we were here 29 years ago.
Almost to the day.
What a baseball game.
And maybe in 20 days we'll be here for the Formula 1.
What do you think?
I'm in.
I'm in.
I've never seen a Formula 1.
Well thank you Claudio.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
So nice.
Thank you.
Are you my dad now?
No.
Sorry, I do basements.
That sounds like a great way to start the year.
About this episode
Claudio Zanardo, Pirelli’s North America CEO, talks about why the brand is sponsoring the Miami Open and how tennis highlights tire performance through visible “speed clock” serves. He explains Pirelli’s core message: power needs control, and tires are the only contact patch. Zanardo also covers market conditions shaped by weather, Pirelli’s new North America-focused truck and SUV lines (XTM/Scorpion), and the company’s push into EV-specific tires for noise, range, and comfort. He adds that Pirelli is developing connected, sensor-enabled tires and uses Formula One as a tech proving ground.
In this special episode from the 2026 Miami Open, we sit down with Claudio Zanardo, CEO of Pirelli North America, to explore how Pirelli is bringing its world-class high-performance engineering from motorsports into elite tennis.
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