Bridgestone releases best-of-both Dueler

BRIDGESTONE has expanded its rugged Dueler range with an all-terrain A/T 002 tyre it claims offers highway-terrain levels of comfort and safety without sacrificing off-road performance, replacing the passenger-car version of its A/T 697 model.

The Dueler brand burst onto the off-road scene in 1981 when the now iconic Desert Dueler made its debut, before success in the gruelling Paris-Dakar race through the 1990s further popularised the tyre range.

In the years since, Dueler’s popularity has continued to grow in line with the booming 4x4 and SUV segments which now account for more than half of all vehicles sold in Australia. It’s no surprise then that Bridgestone is chasing the consumer market with the AT 002.

However, the AT 002 is a far cry from its hardcore Desert Dueler ancestors, offering on-road performance on-par with a highway-terrain tyre - especially in the wet.

Bridgestone opted to use its Nano Pro-Tech compound technology in the A/T 002, typically reserved for car tyres, with a high silica content that means better wet weather performance.

What the A/T 002 sacrifices - because with tyres, there’s always a sacrifice - is durability when compared with its beefier A/T 697 counterpart. However, based on the ‘lifestyle’ segment of the market Bridgestone is chasing, this is unlikely to cause concern as most serious off-roaders still opt for light-commercial tyres and will continue to do so.

Despite offering slightly less cut and chip resistance than the A/T 697, Bridgestone Australia’s sales director Claudio Sodano says the new model will wear 30 per cent better and offers a five per cent improvement in rolling resistance.

The A/T 002 is designed to be used mostly on-road, with an 80/20 on- and off-road use split compared to its A/T 697 predecessor with a 70/30 split, but it has a far more aggressive tread pattern than the brand’s highway-terrain models.

The hexagonal tread pattern aims to offer strong off-road grip, and the shoulder tread extends onto the sidewall which, while not overly aggressive, will improve grip in soft sand, mud or snow. The sidewall tread, if nothing else, adds to the aggressive aesthetic the A/T 002 offers compared with a highway-terrain option.

So far Bridgestone offers 19 sizes, covering most popular dual-cab ute and SUV models, with another 11 sizes on the way.

Talking with Go Auto News at the media launch for the A/T 002, Mr Sodano told us the new model has seen strong sales since entering the market in March and he expects further growth.

“We did roughly 3500 to 4000 per month for the last few months, so as a percentage of sales that’s only two to three per cent but we haven’t got the full size range yet,” Mr Sodano said.

“I think it could eventually achieve five per cent of total sales.”

The initial popularity comes down to a mix of brand recognition and the versatile balance of on- and off-road performance the tyre offers, Mr Sodano explained.

“I think it’s the reputation, but also the end-to-end offering that we have,” he said.

“The Dueler A/T 002 really is the sweet spot for the market in terms of it being an upgrade from the OE tyres that come on the car and being able to really utilise the capabilities of 4x4s and all-wheel drives on the market.”

If the A/T 002 is as good as the ubiquitous A/T 697 it replaces, which the company says is nearing the milestone of four million total sales, the new model could account for a significant chunk of Bridgestone’s total sales volume in Australia.