Giti’s New Passenger Car Tires Offer Performance At Very Affordable Prices

Northern Automax Intersales, Inc., the exclusive Philippine distributor of Giti Tires, held the launch of its new passenger car tires at Clark International Speedway last November 15, 2019. The event coincided with the hosting of an international summit organized by the Giti Tires family network, inviting guests from Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and all over Asia.

Giti Tires is a Singapore headquartered brand with five R&D, and testing centers spread out in Germany, USA, China, Indonesia, and the UK that is continually innovating and improving designs for passenger cars and truck tires in their eight manufacturing plants around the world.

Giti unveiled its newest version of its Giti4x4 off-road tires, GitiComfort on-road car and SUV tires, GitiControl premium car, SUV and run-flat tires, as well as its GitiSport performance tires. For our track exercises, Giti Tires used its GitiSport S1, which were fitted on various high-performance machines, mainly a fleet of Ford Mustangs. Giti’s tires are tested and used in the toughest of track conditions, including the Nurburgring 24 Hours endurance race. These track exercises then should be a walk in the park for these high-performance GitiSport S1 tires.

We went through a slalom, acceleration, and an emergency brake test in both wet and dry conditions. The tires clawed on to the track excellently whilst providing excellent steering feel, letting you know what the front tires are doing. Going through the slalom with these tires fitted to a high-performance Mustang GT gave a sense of confidence to the driver as its limits of grip were really high.

The GitiSport S1’s grip was further evident during the acceleration test as even under hard launches, the GitiSport S1 tires gave the Mustang GT plenty of grip to scoot to 80 kph without braking traction. Likewise, the emergency brake test at wet and dry conditions from 80 kph was excellent. A proper instrumented test would be more appropriate to compare the performance of the GitiSport S1 tires against the competition, but based on our experiences on track, the GitiSport S1 tires performed flawlessly.

The best part about these tires is its price. The GitiSport S1 tires cost half as much as Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires whilst providing about the same level of performance. Chris Bloor, Executive Director of International Marketing and Sales, says that they’ve achieved this level of affordability by simply having a lower markup against other more established brands. He adds that in terms of material cost, Giti Tires pay the same amount as other brands. The company just adds a little markup to cover sales, marketing, R&D, among others.

After the track exercises, we were given the opportunity to try out the Formula V1 race cars. The Formula V1 is built on a tubular steel chassis with a fiberglass body, Wilwood brakes, Tein coilovers, and Rota wheels. The 1.5-liter 1NZ inline-4 engine that produces 110 hp and the 5-speed short-throw manual transmission that it’s mated to may came from a humble Vios, but because it only weighs a mere 530 kg (dry), 0-100 kph is achieved in just 4.5 seconds all the way to a top speed of 200 kph at Clark International Speedway’s long straight.

Fitted with the GitiSport GTR3 RR1, the Formula V1 race cars clawed onto the track. Along with its closely placed clutch, brake, and gas pedals, the initial intimidation of driving the Formula V1 around the track immediately faded away. It’s easy to drive, with a precise clutch and light controls. No wonder these cars are a perfect stepping stone for those coming from go-karting.

The Giti Tire passenger car radial tire line-up is now available across all Northern Automax Group dealers nationwide. With more than 600 outlets, Giti Tires are easily accessible to its consumers.