Sponsorship of 2023 World Ski Championships will boost awareness of Vredestein winter and all-season tyres

·       Apollo Tyres signs new Official Sponsor agreement for the 2023 Championships being held in Courchevel Méribel, France, from 6 to 19 February

·       Initiative will raise the profile of award-winning Vredestein winter and all-season tyres

·       In 2021 the Championships attracted a TV audience of more than 126 million, as well as over 357 million views online

·       Vredestein’s winter-ready products win further accolades and acclaim across Europe

The Vredestein premium tyre brand is to become an Official Sponsor of the 2023 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, being held in Courchevel Méribel, France, from 6 to 19 February 2023. Apollo Tyres, which owns the Vredestein product brand, has signed the sponsorship deal to help drive awareness of the award-winning Vredestein winter (Wintrac and Wintrac Pro) and all-season (Quatrac and Quatrac Pro) tyre ranges. 

The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships is a flagship event in the global winter-sports calendar, attracting millions of enthusiastic viewers. In 2021 the Championships secured a combined TV audience of over 126 million, while the event’s online coverage achieved more than 357 million views and over 11 million likes.

During the event, the Vredestein brand will feature prominently on participants’ bibs, as well as on banners and backdrops for the Championships’ highly competitive adrenaline-fuelled events, which include ‘Alpine Combined’, ‘Super G’, ‘Downhill’, ‘Parallel Slalom’, ‘Giant Slalom’, and ‘Slalom’. The agreement was brokered by Infront, the 2023 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships exclusive marketing partner.

“This significant new commitment to winter sports provides an ideal platform to increase positive awareness of some of Vredestein’s unique brand and product attributes,” explains Benoit Rivallant, President and CEO at Apollo Tyres. “Our winter and all-season tyres have many natural synergies with the world of competitive skiing, in particular the shared focus on achieving superior standards of performance and safety on snow and ice. The Championships attracts a highly engaged audience that understands and appreciates premium-quality products, and this new agreement will help us quickly elevate the profile of Vredestein in established territories and in key growth markets for the brand across Europe.”

Bernard Front, Courchevel Méribel 2023 President, said: “As the organiser of the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Courchevel Méribel 2023, we are always very happy to have a new partner who is committed to the mountain. Together, we are working to make this event a real showcase for the mountain and ski world. Thank you to the premium tyre brand Vredestein for accompanying us and participating with us in this great celebration of French and international skiing.”

Continued recognition in winter and all-season tyre tests

Vredestein was recognised in a wide range of independent tyre tests conducted last autumn by leading consumer magazines, including AutoBild, ACE Lenkrad, and Auto Motor und Sport, as well as by ADAC, Europe's largest motoring association.

The Vredestein Quatrac Pro high-performance tyre was recognised as overall ‘Price/Quality Winner’ by Auto Motor und Sport, and ‘recommended’ by ACE Lenkrad magazine in its September all-season tyre test. The testers at AutoBild highlighted the performance of the Quatrac Pro in the snow, as well as its “stable driving behaviour and short braking distance on wet slopes, with low road noise.”

The standard Vredestein Quatrac, which is suited to family cars and SUVs, achieved second place in AutoBild’s highly competitive all-season tyre test, being singled out as ‘exemplary’. The testers described the Quatrac as “a strong all-season tyre with balanced performance in the wet and dry, with impressive braking distances.”

Vredestein’s range of winter tyres also performed well in recent independent tests. The Wintrac was ‘recommended’ by ADAC, the largest car club in Germany with around 21 million members. The organisation commended its performance on ice and its low rolling resistance. Meanwhile, the Vredestein Wintrac Pro high-performance winter tyre was named ‘very good’ by Auto Motor Und Sport.

Founded in the Netherlands in 1908, the Vredestein premium tyre brand has built a reputation for quality and innovation – from its first bicycle tyre produced in 1910, to the passenger car, bike and agriculture tyres that are manufactured in Europe today. As well as tyres for high-performance cars and family cars, the brand pioneered the all-season tyres segment in the early 1990s and remains at the forefront of the market. In December Apollo Tyres announced the launch of Vredestein’s first dedicated EV tyre, the Quatrac Pro EV. The new product will become the first all-season EV tyre on the market, as well as the first with a size option bearing the ‘High Load’ marking highlighting its suitability for larger plug-in cars and SUVs.