40 years of Falken tyres

The Falken tyre brand celebrates its 40th anniversary this year and Falken Tyre Europe has marked the milestone at an event not far from its headquarters in Offenbach am Main, Germany. For the company, the anniversary is also an opportunity to look back on the past four decades.

The first Falken tyre, the FK06C, arrived in 1983, prior to the opening of Falken’s first central warehouse in Dortmund, Germany. Although the facility was only capable of housing only 15,000 tyres at the time, the Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (SRI) subsidiary developed rapidly.

Falken FK06C arrived on the market in 1983 (Image: Falken Tyre Europe)

“The Falken brand was born with a specific target – to be the high-performance line for our parent company, SRI, delivering high quality and value to customers around the world,” says Markus Bögner, managing director and president of Falken Tyre Europe. “Even after 40 years of exciting developments in tyre technology, automotive growth and innovation, our principles of high performance, great value, and exceptional quality apply unreservedly across all our premium products.”

One of the highlights from Falken’s 40-year history is the creation of the motorsport division in 1985, whose philosophy of ‘from the racetrack to the road’ remains its mantra to this day. With the opening of its Offenbach site in 1988, SRI established a European headquarters three years prior to setting up a comparable facility in North America, a move the company says underlines the European market’s importance.

Falken Tyre Europe established

SRI founded Falken Tyre Europe in December 2008 and this operation, based at the site of the Japanese firm’s European liaison office, took over the Falken and Ohtsu brands in the European replacement tyre market from Goodyear Dunlop as of 1 January 2010.

Falken Tyre Europe now supplies more than 8,000 dealers, vehicle manufacturers, and tyre fitting companies across the continent, with over two million Falken and SRI branded tyres stored in 20 warehouses across Europe.

Sport & sponsorship

At the same time as moving to Offenbach in 1988, Falken also introduced its teal and blue livery, a colour scheme instantly recognisable amongst motorsport fans today. Falken’s reputation as a manufacturer of high-performance products was given a boost with its first championship win at the Mirage Cup International series in Japan that same year. Since then, successes on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife – including a podium finish at the 24-hour race in 2015 – have seen Falken establish itself on the competitive stage.

A podium finish at the 2015 Nürburgring 24-hour race was a particular highlight for Falken (Photo: Falken Tyre Europe)

“It is not only on track that Falken stands for consistency and trust,” states Falken Tyre Europe, elaborating that its “important values” include teamwork and passion, not to mention the desire for success. This has led to cooperation with Liverpool FC and other major European sporting outfits, including the Bundesliga Supercup, World Handball Championships, ski teams, the Red Bull Air Race and The Nines – with Falken’s brand recognition growing in tandem.

OE successes

Not to be overlooked is Falken’s growing role as an original equipment tyre brand over time. First on the OE list in Europe was the VW Up! in 2012, which came factory fitted with Falken Sincera SN831A tyres in size 165/70R14 81T. Further VW approvals followed, complemented by original equipment deals with other brands across the Volkswagen Group as well as manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz and Nissan.

We owe success to our colleagues

But Falken Tyre Europe says none of these successes would have been possible “without the right colleagues.” From three initial employees in Offenbach, the operation’s workforce has grown to 225. In addition to many specialists working in European sales, SRI built a production facility for Europe in Turkey in 2015 and acquired UK wholesaler Micheldever in 2017.

“We owe our success to our colleagues. I have been particularly impressed by how they have mastered the challenges of recent years – such as Brexit and Covid,” shares Markus Bögner. “Together with customers, fans of the brand and our colleagues, a unique community has been created – the FalkenFam – which is looking forward to the next 40 years with confidence.”