Yokohama quitting karting tyre business

Yokohama Rubber has announced it will cease producing karting tyres and end its supply of these products at the end of this year. The tyre maker says its management team reached this decision “after careful consideration of various viewpoints” within the framework of a wider restructuring of its business as part of the Yokohama Transformation 2023 (YX2023) mid-term management plan. Before exiting the karting sector, Yokohama intends to fulfil its responsibilities under existing contracts with kart racing series, events and other customers and continue to supply tyres until these contracts expire.

For more than 20 years, the company has supported races and drivers with a wide range of Yokohama karting tyres, manufacturing the first products in 2001. It has provided tyres for karting races certified by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF), including the All Japan Karting Championship, the country’s premier kart racing series, as well as races certified by the International Automobile Federation’s International Karting Commission (CIK-FIA). The Yokohama karting range also includes tyres for hobby, rental, and indoor karts.

In a statement, Yokohama Rubber wrote that it “would like to take this opportunity to express its sincere gratitude to all the users, dealers, kart manufacturers, and people associated with kart racing who have supported Yokohama karting tyres over the years.”

Tyre development through motorsport

The company’s stated YX2023 aim is to maximise the proportion of high-value-added tyre sales within its consumer tyre business. Towards this end, Yokohama Rubber will continue motorsport activities which contribute to the development of advanced tyre technologies that it can use in future generations of high-performance tyres. Accordingly, while pursuing a business restructuring that targets growth over the next generation, the company will continue to supply its tyres to a wide variety of motorsports events in Japan and around the globe, from top-category championships to grassroots events.