Michelin redefined all-season tyres with its original CrossClimate – now the French manufacturer returns to meet growing demand for versatility in higher performance sizes
Welcome to the fifth edition of the WhatTyre Tyre of the Year Awards and Buyers Guide. The website’s editorial team, which has almost 60 years’ collective experience in writing about tyres and the tyre industry, has selected more than 70 outstanding tyres across nine categories that collectively represent the best products currently available for road-going cars in all categories. While this sounds like a lot, bear in mind the vast array of brands and products available in the UK’s replacement tyre sector: since WhatTyre began, more than 700 tyre brands have been available in tyre retail outlets around the country. In 2025, a record 21 brands have been recognised for the quality of their products, including the world’s most recognisable tyre marques and several sub-premium brands with which general motorists may not already be familiar. This year also sees Chinese brands Sailun and Linglong recognised for their rapidly advancing capabilities and products that are increasingly competing with more lauded mid-range brands on performance.
WhatTyre wants above all to raise the level of conversation about tyres. Too often this highly technical product, the subject of huge research and development operations, which has a massive influence on automotive performance, the sustainability of mobility, and road safety, is underrated as a distress purchase made in haste. As a leading supplier of tyre product advice on the web, WhatTyre is designed to offer a way for the average driver to ensure they make a wise decision when they change tyres. With a visit to our site or a look through these pages, we are confident that drivers can get a more informed perspective on tyres, which they can use to navigate the often-bewildering array of products available to buy online, or to have a better conversation with their garage about what tyres are best for them to fit.
WhatTyre Tyre of the Year 2025
The WhatTyre Tyre of the Year Award is not always an easy one to identify. In any year we are faced with particular tyres that have dominated the last season of independent tyre tests; new products that push performance to levels previously not achieved; and innovations that alter the shape of the market. In the five years we have been choosing products to give our top award to, new tyres that redefine a particularly important subsection of the tyre market have become our focus for this award, distinct from the excellence in particular usage cases that the other awards represent.
This year, we return to the growing all-season tyre segment to find our winner for the third time in five years. There is a good reason for this: in a challenging tyre market, the most dependable sales growth has been achieved in this versatile year-round segment, as motorists across the UK and Europe demand the increased convenience of a single fitment while ensuring mobility across the winter months. Therefore, tyre manufacturers have devoted increasing research and development activities to innovation and products that stand out and offer something more. Our first Tyre of the Year in 2021, the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen3 remains one of the segment’s best products, achieving an optimal balance of winter and summer performance that wowed independent testers. In 2023, we honoured the Michelin CrossClimate SUV for extending the innovation of the original “summer tyre with winter capabilities” that redefined what an all-season tyre could be, into SUV sizes. In 2025, Michelin has pushed its CrossClimate concept further again, this time claiming that “sporty driving no longer has a season.”
The 2025 WhatTyre Tyre of the Year is the Michelin CrossClimate 3 Sport
Available now in 32 18-20” sizes, the Michelin CrossClimate 3 Sport was engineered specifically for sporty and high-performance vehicles. Featuring the Three Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMSF) marking, which certifies suitability for winter road conditions. Michelin developed the tyre to allow drivers to reliably enjoy the dynamic characteristics of their vehicle all year round. The tyre offers precise handling on dry, wet, and winter roads and A-rated wet braking performance on the EU tyre label in all sizes. It is also suitable for extra weight and torque of electric vehicles.
Michelin has indicated two new technologies in particular into the CrossClimate 3 Performance. Its “Dynamic Response technology” is derived from motorsport; a hybrid belt made of aramid and nylon transmits precise steering impulses to the road surface and offers reliable control. Michelin’s “V-Shape technology” meanwhile integrates tread grooves that widen from the centre to the shoulder, improving water drainage when new and throughout the life of the tyre.
Michelin CrossClimate 3 Sport (Image: Michelin)
