Based in Japan, Bridgestone Corporation is the world’s largest tyre and rubber company.
While announcing its five-year business management plan in which it expects to spend 280 billion yen ($3.3 billion) in calendar year 2013 to expand tyre capacity in emerging markets, Bridgestone Corp. also said it aiming at annual sales growth of 5 per cent and 10 per cent operating income ratio, the tyre manufacturer said it would seek diverse sources of raw materials and combine products and services in pursuit of its goals.
Bridgestone’s Blizzak LM-80 was the clear winner of German automobile club ADAC, TCS and ÖAMTC’s new SUV/CUV winter tyre tests (size 215/65 R16 on a Volkswagen Tiguan), while its Blizzak LM-32 received the association’s highest snow ranking. The passenger car tyre was awarded AutoBild’s highest winter rating, published in early October.
All charges against a former research scientist at the Bridgestone Americas technical centre in Akron have been dropped, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Xiaorong Wang, 50, of Hudson, Ohio, is "very relieved," his lawyer, Paul Adamson, told the newspaper.
Bridgestone Europe's newest ad campaign emphasises its continued sponsorship of Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup events in Europe, as well as Bridgestone's winter tyre range.
Bridgestone’s own Tyre Pressure Management System (TPMS) is currently being rolled out across Europe with the aim of providing a more thorough pressure maintenance service to customers. The system is made up of a valve-mounted sensor, a receiver gate mounted at the fleet site and a cloud based data system. The valve sensor emits a signal every six seconds relaying up-to-date pressure and temperature data to the gate receiver which collates the information and sends it to the Bridgestone database on a regular basis.
In its 18 October-announced Mid-Term Management Plan 2012, Bridgestone reported it plans to spend an average of 250 billion yen on capital expenditure projects, half of which will be for strategic tyre projects. Further to this company announcement, a Japan-based reporter for Reuters writes that in the 2013 calendar year Bridgestone will spend 280 billion yen (£2.2 billion) to expand capacity in emerging markets, including India and Thailand.
Bridgestone Corporation’s 2012 Mid-Term Management Plan (MTP2012) leaves little scope for misinterpreting the company’s aim. In its latest plan, announced 18 October, the Japanese firm states that its ultimate goal is to become the “undisputed world number one tyre and rubber company in both name and reality.” The plan covers the five years from the start of 2013 to the end of 2017, and Bridgestone says MTP2012 reflects “changes in the operating environment” since the formulation of MTP2011.”
TyreSafe is encouraging motorists to consider fitting winter tyres, offering 147 reasons why they should. The 147 refers to the number of times temperatures fell below seven degrees Celsius during prime commuting hours on 147 separate days between the beginning of October 2011 and the end of March 2012, according to the Met Office.
This month Bridgestone Europe is launching a new advertising campaign to support its winter tyre range; the integrated multimedia campaign will be shown in France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden and is aimed at demonstrating how Bridgestone tyres keep “winter under control”.
It’s only a few months since German financial daily the Handelsblatt referred to Hankook as “an aggressive challenger” to Continental. On 9 October the newspaper reported on a challenge facing the German tyre maker from other quarters. In an interview, a senior Bridgestone manager let it be known that the global market leader also wants to play a leading role in Europe in future.
Bridgestone apparently does not intend to take Sony’s lawsuit lying down. According to entertainment industry publication The Hollywood Reporter, Bridgestone claims that the Kevin Butler character doesn’t even occur in the North American commercials featuring actor Jerry Lambert.
Bridgestone Americas is one of the defendants named in a lawsuit filed by Sony Computer Entertainment America. The tyre maker is in hot water along with Wildcat Creek, Inc – a company owned by actor Jerry Lambert – for using Sony-developed character Kevin Butler to sell non-Sony products.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has added to Bandag retread products, the B710 FuelTech and B197 FuelTech, to its list of SmartWay verified low rolling resistance tyres. Announcing the additions, Bert Jones, Bridgestone Commercial Solutions manager, Product Marketing, TBR, commented: “We are constantly striving to develop eco-friendly products and processes while meeting the fuel saving needs of our customers.”
On display at last week’s Paris Motor Show alongside Bridgestone’s concept 100 per cent sustainable materials tyre was the “star” of the tyre maker’s show stand – the new flagship Ecopia EP001S. The new tyre was presented in size 195/65R15 and is Bridgestone’s first tyre to achieve an ‘A’ label rating for both fuel efficiency and wet grip, as well as the first tyre in the world to receive the top grade in Japan’s tyre rating system. The Ecopia EP001S is now available in European markets.
A particular tyre on display at the 2012 Paris Motor Show represents Bridgestone’s vision of its tyre manufacturing for 2050 and beyond. The “100% sustainable materials” concept tyre on show at the Bridgestone stand in Paris exclusively utilises sustainable raw materials and was developed through a collaborative effort involving a number of resources, including academia.
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