Thanks to its innovative technological features, this high-performance model becomes the first tyre in history to receive this award, which falls under the Design for Mobility category. The ceremony took place last week during a special international edition of the Compasso d’Oro, celebrating its 70th anniversary at Expo 2025 in Osaka (Japan).
In 2025, the Compasso d’Oro was inspired by the Expo motto: “Designing Future Society for Our Lives”, and Pirelli was recognised in one of the key areas: Connecting Lives. This category aims to connect people through the development of technologically advanced products with a reduced environmental impact, such as the P Zero E: the world’s first tyre with an unprecedented share of natural and recycled materials. As a powerful synthesis of industrial design, sustainable innovation, and technology, this model represents a revolutionary turning point for the industry.
The Pirelli P Zero E was launched in 2023, becoming the world’s first ultra-high-performance tyre with more than 55% natural and recycled materials, while maintaining performance and safety even in demanding conditions such as wet asphalt. Its levels of performance, efficiency, and comfort are reflected in the triple “A” energy label rating across wet grip, rolling resistance, and noise for its entire launch range.
The P Zero E was developed to maximise the efficiency of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles (with the ability to increase battery range by up to 10% thanks to ELECT technology) and comes as standard with one of Pirelli’s most advanced innovations, RunForward, which allows continued driving even after a puncture. It is an invisible revolution capable of setting a new direction for the development of future tyres—an achievement that already earned it the “Tyre of the Year” award at the 2023 Automobile Club de France awards.
In this way, the P Zero E is at the forefront of Pirelli’s technological innovation alongside Cyber Tyre, a world-first technology capable of collecting information through sensors integrated into tyres and processing it with proprietary algorithms and software. This enables new vehicle functions and also allows integration into other digital environments, such as smart roads and smart cities.
When accepting the award, Piero Misani, Pirelli’s Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, said: “This prestigious award celebrates excellence in Pirelli’s design and the innovative character of products such as the P Zero E, confirming the role of research and development as a driver of progress and sustainability. Our ongoing commitment to R&D has made our brand a benchmark in the global industry for technological innovation and advanced solutions for the development of future tyres, thanks to the use of new materials with lower environmental impact and the increasing use of advanced artificial intelligence across all phases.”
Pirelli and the Compasso d’Oro
Pirelli has appeared several times in the ADI Compasso d’Oro award roll of honour, either through advertising campaigns created by leading figures in graphic design or through iconic products in the field of industrial design. These range from foam rubber toys, electromechanical clocks, and rubber flooring to more recent projects by the Pirelli Foundation. The Rubber Soul exhibition, winner of the Red Dot Design Award in 2013, was included in the ADI Design Index, while the editorial project Publicidad con mayúscula was nominated for the award in 2020.
The P Zero E will join the other Compasso d’Oro award winners as part of the exhibition at the Italy Pavilion, before being added to the permanent collection of the ADI Design Museum in Milan. The P Zero E embodies a modern vision of mobility, connecting people and establishing itself as a reference in sustainability and circularity thanks to the use of recovered materials such as lignin. This tyre was developed using data- and AI-based technologies, involving Pirelli’s main R&D centres worldwide, as well as numerous collaborations with universities, specialised centres, and suppliers.
