Torque from the Top: David Seward, managing director Yokohama HPT

David Seward, Yokohama HPT managing director

The latest in our ‘Torque from the Top’ series of interviews with leading tyre industry executives features David Seward, MD of Yokohama’s UK distributor, Yokohama HPT. As you will read later, the company was established in 1988 and Seward has been with the company from the beginning, which must make him one of (if not the) longest-serving MD of any UK-based international tyre company. But first, a brief look at the history of the parent company.

Established in 1917, Yokohama Rubber is Japan’s oldest tyre manufacturer. Today, it is the eighth largest tyre manufacturer in the world, producing a comprehensive range of premium tyres for passenger car, 4×4, van and motorsport applications.

Recognised for its pioneering technology, innovation and environmental credentials, Yokohama has a strong and well-established corporate philosophy of making a positive contribution to society by creating beneficial products and caring for the environment.

Selected for their outstanding performance in high-profile motorsport series, Yokohama tyres are used by competitors in dozens of championships in the UK and many more worldwide.

Furthermore, thanks to its proven quality and its environmental credentials, Yokohama tyres continue to be selected by many of the world’s leading premium vehicle manufacturers as original equipment including the likes of Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and Porsche.

Yokohama HPT Ltd was established in 1988 as the official UK tyre distributor and is a subsidiary of Yokohama Europe GmbH.

Way back in the early ‘90s, Yokohama-equipped cars won the British Touring Car Championship for four consecutive years and enjoyed significant TV coverage which elevated awareness among consumers. Yokohama’s market share continued to grow as the brand was embraced by performance and tuning enthusiasts.

In 2015 Yokohama proudly announced a five-year deal as the official shirt sponsor of Chelsea FC. In 2020, Yokohama continued its relationship with the club as official tyre partner. The resultant exposure to this new audience has once more significantly lifted the profile of the brand both in the UK and indeed globally.

The company has been a long-standing supporter of the tyre sector through its membership and participation of key industry bodies such as ITMA, NTDA and the SMMT. It has also been a long-time supporter of TyreSafe. Indeed, Yokohama has won three TyreSafe industry accolades and two NTDA awards including ‘Tyre Manufacturer of the Year’.

David Seward on Yokohama and sustainability

Tyres & Accessories: Yokohama is very much into sustainability and sets great store on its ‘BluEarth’ concept and technologies. Can you give a brief overview of what this means for the man in the street?

David Seward: Traditional materials and manufacturing processes within the tyre industry were not always the most environmentally friendly. Thankfully, this is changing and a mix of technical innovations, CSR (corporate social responsibility) attitudes, legislation and higher environmental demands from users has resulted in today’s premium products having a significantly lower impact on the environment.

Yokohama’s BluEarth tyre range has been designed based around our core strategy to deliver environmentally, human and socially friendly solutions.

From a product perspective, it means minimising the impact on the environment by utilising materials which have the least possible impact on the environment and making them in an environmentally responsible manner within our facilities. Available in fitments from small city cars up to grand tourers including CUV’s, minivans and light commercial vehicles, BluEarth tyres introduce low drag sidewall features and tread pattern innovations to reduce pass-by noise and are manufactured lighter to further improve fuel efficiency. The result is that the BluEarth tyre range has low rolling resistance, tuned tread designs for the highest levels of grip in all conditions for safety, while minimising the impact of noise pollution.

As ever, Yokohama’s research and development teams are always looking for the next material, innovation or technology that can be incorporated into future BluEarth products to improve on its already outstanding list of features.

T&A: On a related topic, the company’s ‘Forever Forest’ campaign is an ambitious worldwide tree planting project – is it on schedule?

David Seward: Absolutely!

Launched in 2007, our Forever Forest Initiative has already planted over 600,000 trees to date with another 400,000 saplings supplied for future planting. The programme is set to plant a total of 1.3 million trees by 2030, spread across 14 locations in Japan and a further 21 locations in eight countries worldwide. By the end of 2019 the Forever Forest Initiative helped absorb over 1,000 tons of CO2 so far.

When we established the project we set out with some very clear goals in mind including:

• Developing participants’ environmental awareness
• Preventing disaster and forming environmental conservation forests
• Contributing to the fight against global warming and the conservation of biodiversity
• Communicating with regional communities and helping to safeguard the genetic diversity of local tree species and maintaining local ecosystems

As a result of the Forever Forest Initiative and other projects, in 2020 Yokohama was added by the global environmental charity CDP to their ‘A List’ for tackling climate change for the third year. Yokohama’s selection recognises its efforts to cut emissions, mitigate climate risks and develop the low-carbon economy.

Yokohama, motorsport and sponsorships

T&A: For years in the UK, the Yokohama name was synonymous with motorsports, and supplying tyres to the BTCC helped put the company on the map. How important is motorsport in today’s environment – is there the same level of commitment?

David Seward: Yokohama remains fully committed across the spectrum of motorsport around the world including rally, circuit and endurance events.

Indeed, for Yokohama, motorsport is considered an essential test bed to develop our performance tyres. Motorsport is in our DNA and our long motorsport heritage has enabled us to develop technologies that have raised the performance levels of tyres across our product ranges.

Today in the UK, we supply tyres to more than 20 different championships and our colleagues in Japan, USA and across Europe are also incredibly active. For example, only a couple of weekends ago, a BMW M6 GT3 from German motorsport team, Walkenhorst, rolling on Yokohama tyres, took class victory in the prestigious VLN 6 endurance series at the famous Nürburgring. In the USA, cars running on Yokohama Advan tyres just won two divisions of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

1990 British Touring Car Championship winner Rob Gravett in his Ford Sierra, running on Yokohama tyres

T&A: Yokohama’s sponsorship relationship with Chelsea FC has been phenomenally successful; winning the European Champions League final this year. How would you assess the value of this partnership?

David Seward: Our ongoing sponsorship as the Official Global Tyre Partner of Chelsea FC has been a great success around the world and in particular, within the UK.

Our five-years as the Official Shirt Partner to Chelsea FC from 2015 to 2020, provided a huge boost to our brand awareness and underpinned Yokohama as a global manufacturer committed to its future within the premium sector of the tyre market.

Around the world, the benefits of the television ratings, printed and digital media and awareness from millions of fans wearing replica shirts all contributed towards increased business levels. Watching Chelsea FC winning some of the most significant silverware in football over the last six years (Premier League winners 2016/17, FA Cup winners 2017/18, Europa League winners 2018/19, European Champions 2020/21) has only enhanced Yokohama’s brand reputation. As a result, Yokohama’s name and products are much more widely recognised and demanded at the point of sale.

Logistics in the pandemic

T&A: There have been some supply hold-ups on imports of tyres to Europe – have these had any significant impact on your business?

David Seward: 2021 has been a challenging year for the whole tyre industry in terms of importation. Whilst it is true to say that we have also been impacted by logistical setbacks, any delays in arrivals have been mitigated by the significant stock holding we carry at our Milton Keynes warehouse. Thankfully the issues faced earlier in the year have significantly eased and we are confident of maintaining good supplies going forward.

Yokohama electric vehicle tyres

T&A: Electric vehicles are the future – does Yokohama have a comprehensive range of EV-specific tyres?

David Seward: Tyres for Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV’s) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) is not a new area for Yokohama. Our longstanding relationships with manufacturers such as Toyota, Lexus, Honda and Mitsubishi supplying original line fitment tyres to their hybrid models for many years has provided Yokohama with the knowledge and experience to develop leading technology products that are ideally suited to the requirements of the new line-up of EVs entering the market.

Indeed, our 100 per cent line fitment on the original Tesla Roadster Sport model from 2008 until 2012 proved that EVs were not only about being environmentally conscious, but provided Tesla drivers with the opportunity to have some responsible fun!

While being a mode of transportation, EVs are also a substantial part of the global strategy to reduce the human impact that is affecting our planet. Yokohama is committed to the environment and its sustainability. Our BluEarth range reflects this thinking and naturally we are developing new products for existing and future electric vehicles. As EV tyre demand grows, Yokohama is well placed to develop and introduce leading edge EV specific products.

Yokohama introduced a dedicated EV replacement tyre in the ADVAN dB V552, designed to provide impressive wet grip and fuel efficiency while maintaining the low noise levels expected when running for many miles on the battery.

Available to buy today, our EV Line fitment supply of BluEarth tyres for the Honda e city car is just the start. Yokohama is working with many premium vehicle manufacturers on their new EV models and we’ll be pleased to announce those via Tyres and Accessories in the near future.