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  Goodyear's Blake Vincent says the tyre has been designed to keep more fuel in your tank, and more money in your wallet.

The battle to improve fuel economy has hit the road in the form of a new tyre from Goodyear.

Goodyear has developed a special fuel-economy tyre it claims can improve economy by four per cent, enough for a $400 saving at the pump over the life of the tyres.

The Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max is suitable for use on around 60 per cent of the cars sold in Australia, from the baby Honda Jazz and Hyundai Getz through to the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore.

Sizes range from 175x65R14 to a 235x45R17 coming later in the year, with prices between $147 and $301.

"Basically, this tyre has been designed to keep more fuel in your tank, and more money in your wallet," says Blake Vincent of Goodyear.

The tyre has been tweaked for Australian conditions and Goodyear claims that, unlike other economy-focussed tyres, there is no compromise on dry or wet-weather grip.

"With the Assurance Fuel Max, we have achieved a breakthrough in proprietary technology that has enabled us to expand performance attributes. This compound significantly reduces the energy needed to keep the tyres rotating, so less effort is required to keep the car moving; hence less petrol is consumed by the vehicle," says Vincent.

"Many fuel-efficient tyres currently available depend on replacing carbon black material with silica in the tread compound to minimise rolling resistance. Goodyear's new tread is a blend of polymers, which increase their selective reactivity with the silica filler, to help improve silica dispersion and enhance the overall physical properties of the tread."

So, how does the tyre boost fuel economy?

Goodyear says it's down to low rolling resistance, a hard base beneath the tread to reduce deformation and heat build-up, and even pressure distribution to cut wear. It also highlights the tread pattern shared with its ArmorGrip tyre, which recently won a Choice comparison, to give good grip without excessive road noise.

Despite the economy claims - backed by European testing using a Citroen C4 - the Fuel Max is not yet fitted as standard equipment by any local carmaker.