"The occurrence of meridian tyre in 1946 reduced the tyre's rolling resistance by 20 percent and the 'green' tyre emerging in the 1990s further reduced the rolling resistance on the basis of meridian tyre." Head of Rubber Tyre Expert Group of Planning and Economic Committee of China Rubber Industry Association Chen Zhihong says, "Although it just begins, the 'green' tyre represents the trend of further energy saving and emission reduction via tyre."

In 1992, Michelin first added silicon into the rubber formulation in the world so as to greatly reduce energy consumption, which was the first time that the concept of "green" tyre came to human. The "green" tyre, also known as environmental friendly tyre or low-pollution tyre, is to add new material into the tyre formulation so as to reduce the tyre's rolling resistance and fuel consumption, and achieve the environmental protection effect of reducing exhaust emission of automobile. Chen Zhihong analyzes that the main ways of "green" tyre to reduce the rolling resistance is to use SSBR with well non-skid property and low rolling resistance in combination with stuffing system of mainly white carbon. Compared with meridian tyre of the same specifications, the "green" tyre can reduce the rolling resistance by about 26 percent, save fuel by about 3 percent~ 8 percent and at the same time keep performances such as wearing resistance, low noise, adhesive power to dry and wet road, etc. at a better level.

Despite of many advantages, the "green" tyre is mainly used by top-grade automobiles in a period of time as a result of its high cost. But as the number of automobiles in the world increases, the oil resources are to be exhausted and the influence of car emission on the environment enhances, the requirement on energy saving and emission reduction of automobile is becoming more and more urgent. With rapid development in recent years, the automobile industry in our country also encounters the critical problem of energy saving and emission reduction. These factors have created an opportunity for the popularization of "green" tyre. Presently, main tyre manufacturers in the world are making great efforts to develop and produce "green" tyre and the international giants are increasingly distributing their "green" tyres in China.

As a pioneer in the field of "green" tyre, Michelin has been expecting to expand the market of "green" tyre in China. Michelin launched the first green tyre Michelin ENERGY MXV8 on the Chinese market in 2003. It launched another energy-saving tyre ENERGY XM1+ in China in 2007. Up to now, 70 percent of tyres for car and light truck sold by Michelin in China are green ones and its tyre has been the original tyre for Passat, Lavida, Accord, Mercedes-Benz E car, Volvo S40, Nissan Teana, etc. Michelin is also the first manufacturer on the Chinese market to launch green and energy-saving tyre for truck and coach. Data indicates that 100,000 green tyres sold on the Chinese market have accumulatively saved nearly 24 million litres of fuel for user and reduced CO2 emission by 65,000 tons, which is equivalent to the amount of CO2 absorbed by 2.6 million trees in a year.

"In the respect of energy saving and environmental protection, when compared with main international tyre manufacturers, there is still a great gap for the self-owned tyre enterprises in China." Liu Zhihong says that of the many tyre enterprises in China, there are only about 300 enterprises with 3C certification, of which 30 enterprises produce meridian tyre. Several enterprises have began to develop and trial-produce the "green" tyre. Although the domestic tyre enterprises have had the technical level to produce "green" tyre, the question is that there are few assembly factories which are willing to equip the self-owned tyre. Only in the application of equipping the whole car can tyre enterprises innovate in the technology of tyre products continuously and improve the level of production and manufacture. "The settlement of the problem requires the joint effort of the whole automobile industry."

To narrow the gap, the self-owned tyre also need brand building. In 2007, China Rubber Industry Association together with China Top Brand Strategy Promotion Committee conducted brand recommendation of self-owned tyre. Six brands such as Wanli, Triangle, Linglong, etc. were recommended as the tyre brand for car and ten brands such as Double Coin, Triangle, Linglong, etc. were recommended as the tyre brand for truck. Liu Zhihong says the Association will try to support the brand building of self-owned tyre.

Despite of the different development phases, the application of "green" tyre is gaining momentum in the tyre industry.