In Sweden, the popularity of budget winter tires is growing

Continental conducted a study to find out which winter tires drivers in Northern Europe prefer, and it turned out that in Sweden, almost every tenth driver uses budget tires from little-known brands, with as many as 118 of them.

"Many of these brands, my colleagues and I from the tire industry have never even heard of. Such tires may be completely unprepared for Swedish roads and should not be operated under any circumstances," noted Per Lindner, a winter tire specialist and product manager at Continental Sverige. "Of course, I want as many people as possible to use our tires, but that's not the most important thing. It's essential to choose tires from one of the major premium manufacturers, as you can be sure they can provide safety in Northern winter conditions. After all, it's a matter of your life."

As part of the study, 1807 randomly selected cars were photographed on Swedish roads, and the photos were analyzed by artificial intelligence. The results show that Sweden has the lowest percentage of drivers using premium tires among Northern European countries. While in Norway this figure was 75%, in Finland and Denmark it was 72% and 65%, respectively, and in Sweden - 63%. In total, data from 6361 cars were analyzed.

According to Lindner, "it's impossible to overestimate how inappropriate it is to use cheap tires from unknown brands, and in many cases, it can pose a direct threat to the life of both the driver and other road users."

"Just look at the results of any of the major independent tests, and you'll see how big the difference is [between tires of different segments]. A low price may seem tempting, but such tires behave completely differently," Lindner pointed out.

Photo: Vi Bilägare / Fredrik Diits Vikström