85 years of Semperit Winter tyres

Hanover, August 2021. With 85 years of experience in the development and production of winter tyres, the Semperit brand is probably the world’s most traditional winter tyre manufacturer. The foundation stone was laid by the “Goliath”, the world’s first winter tyre, presented in 1936. Since then, the brand with Austrian tradition has helped shape the development of winter specialists – as the inventor of technical innovations and manufacturer of high-performance, safe products with a special grip.

The high performance standard of the “Goliath”, which was only available in a few sizes and which, compared to today’s car tyres, seemed very narrow, can be clearly seen in its production period. It was not until 22 years later, in 1958, that Semperit presented a successor, called M+S. But after that, the Semperit development cycle increased significantly in speed. At the beginning of the 1960s, the company developed studded tyres, which in 1969 became the first spiked winter tyres, the M+S M 181. Another innovative milestone was the development of two different winter tyres, adapted to the size of the vehicle, the Hi-Grip M 229 and M 581, which rolled on the road from 1974. 

With the almost legendary Direction-Grip, the first directional winter specialist, this development continued in 1988 – only to set another highlight just one year later with the Top-Grip SLG. This “super lamella gripper” quickly became the most popular and thus best-selling winter tyre in the Alpine republic.

Semperit also set winter tyre standards in the 90s. In 1995, for example, the newly introduced Direction-Grip immediately took first place in the ADAC/ÖAMTC/TCS test. The product range was once again “completely renewed” in 2008 with the Master-Grip, which was followed in 2014 by its successor, Master-Grip 2.

Like the “Direction-Grip” or its ancestor “Golitah”, however, the “Speed-Grip” product series, introduced in 2006, is seen as a milestone in the history of the traditional tyre brand with Austrian roots. The Speed-Grip 2, which was introduced in 2011, performed excellently in tyre tests for many years, with the successor Speed-Grip 3 launched in 2017 being technically improved once again. 

Today, Semperit has another very powerful winter tyre in production, the new Speed-Grip 5. 

With 85 years of experience in the development of winter tyres, Semperit is certain that this tyre will follow in the giant footsteps of its predecessors and rewrite the success story of winter tyres again.