Pirelli P Zero World opens in Melbourne

Designed to serve as a flagship store for the Pirelli brand – in a similar vein to the Mercedes Me store in the Melbourne CBD – P Zero World in Preston is the fifth store of its kind around the world.

The shop has been developed in conjunction with Mag Wheel Tyre, and part of its role is to serve as a regular tyre shop. There are five tyre-fitting bays, and the store stocks the full Pirelli range; from tyres for family SUVs to high-end, bespoke rubber for cars like the Lamborghini Urus.

According to the company, the majority of tyres sold at its P Zero World location before launch were 18-inch units or higher.

Along with the car tyres, the shop stocks motorbike and pushbike rubber. Pirelli will also use the store to showcase and sell its 'Pirelli Design' gear, developed alongside brands like Montblanc, MV Agusta, Puma and Roger Dubuis.

Pirelli has chosen Melbourne (or 13km north of the Melbourne CBD, to be precise) because of the concentration of high-end vehicles. Of the 5000 'prestige cars' registered in Australia this year, it says the highest number live in Victoria.

And although it offers tyres for garden variety SUVs and passenger cars, Pirelli is pitching P Zero World as somewhere owners of exotics and high-end performance cars can come to have their cars taken care of.

"We are focused on prestige and premium tyres," Dimitris Papadakos, CCO for Pirelli north-east Asia and Pacific, told media in Melbourne.

"We are preparing something similar to the expectations to the users of these cars. So let's say the owner of Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bugatti, Pagani, they're going to find a place similar to the expectations according to the car they have."

Melbourne also has a high concentration of Italian residents – apparently more than 36 per cent of Australia's Italian population lives there, making it a natural fit for Pirelli's flagship store.

The first P Zero World was launched in Los Angeles in 2016, while boutiques in Munich, Monaco and Dubai followed.