Based in Japan, Bridgestone Corporation is the world’s largest tyre and rubber company.
With the 2012 season on the horizon, Formula One’s tyre supplier is looking towards 2013 to develop its product further; however, developments have hit a road block due to the unavailability of a suitable testing vehicle. Pirelli’s Motorsport director, Paul Hembery told Autosport magazine that its hunt for a 2011 car is being compromised by F1 teams’ hawkish attitude to the possibility of another team gaining an advantage by donating its car to the tyre supplier.
The Japanese are changing the way they change their tyres, reports J.D. Power Asia Pacific. The results of the company’s 2011 Japan Replacement Tire Customer Satisfaction Index Study were released on 18 January, and J.D. Power believes they show “replacement tyre shopping behaviour among vehicle owners in Japan is undergoing considerable change.” This change is said to be particularly occurring due to steadily increasing usage of the internet during the shopping process.
Independent East Midlands tyre distributor Tanvic Group Ltd operates from eight locations in Newark (its head office), Lincoln, Grantham, Corby, Melton Mowbray, Loughborough, Worksop and Market Harborough. Though Tanvic says it recognises the market has contracted over the last few years, it has met this challenge by increasing the specialist knowledge of its staff, attempting to add value to the service it offers farm customers.
Tyres have traditionally been round and black, but Bridgestone is set to change this. The Japanese manufacturer announced on 13 January that it has developed a new printing technology for tyres – a technology Bridgestone calls revolutionary and says differs from any tyre printing or colouring process presently on the market.
Hirohide Hamashima, formerly manager of Bridgestone’s Motorsport department, has been hired by Ferrari to be the luxury car brand’s Formula One Team tyre development director. Hamashima worked with Bridgestone, which supplied tyres to F1 from 1997, until pulling out at the end of the 2010 season.
Bridgestone Europe is to roll out a new round of price increases for retread materials across Europe during the first quarter of 2012. Starting on 1 March and varying from country to country, price increases will average 10 per cent for Bridgestone and Bandag pre-cure tread products and 8 per cent for Bandag cushion gum products.
Bridgestone Corporation has a new chief executive officer. On 11 January the company’s Board of Directors approved a number of senior personnel changes, including the appointment of Masaaki Tsuya to the role of CEO. Incumbent chairman of the Board, CEO and president Shoshi Arakawa will continue in the position of chairman of the Board, a role Bridgestone says has been “newly redefined”. The tyre maker has not named a successor to Arakawa as president.
In addition to its sponsorship of the Super Bowl halftime show – this year featuring performances by Madonna, Cirque du Soleil and others – Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations is investing in a new brand campaign that will air during the football final and other major sporting events. The first in a series of five television commercials debuted 2 January, and two of the sports-themed advertisements will be screened during the Super Bowl XLVI on 5 February.
The new safety advisor to MotoGP and series promoter Dorna, Loris Capirosi has told an Italian motorsport magazine that he has made it his priority to improve the safety of tyres supplied to the series by Bridgestone. The 22 year racing veteran – including 10 years as a MotoGP rider – said that he had met with Bridgestone in Valencia, characterising the encounter as “tough”.
During the first quarter of 2012 Bridgestone Europe will roll out a new round of price increases for retread materials across the region it serves. Starting from 1 March and varying from country to country, price increases will average ten per cent for Bridgestone and Bandag Pre Cured Tread products and eight per cent for Bandag Cushion Gum products.
Consumer advice magazine Which? has completed an extensive winter tyre test in the Alps, taking into account six sizes. Each tyre was given a percentage score and ranked accordingly in its size division. In addition, the magazine presented a star rating out of five in each category it tested, namely: dry braking, dry handling, wet braking, wet handling, braking on snow, traction on snow, cornering on snow, braking on ice, cornering on ice, fuel economy, noise and wear. The full list of Which? magazine’s “best buys” – and the winter tyres it suggests its readers to avoid – is presented below.
A month after announcing plans to build a passenger car tyre factory in Vietnam, Bridgestone has stated it will establish a passenger car radial manufacturing and export company there in February 2012 for this purpose. This new operation will be named Bridgestone Tire Manufacturing Vietnam Limited Liability Company and be 100 per cent Bridgestone-owned. Company capital will be US$307.8 million.
Bridgestone Americas appears to be seeking a five-year tax break as an incentive for it to make a planned US$20 million capital investment at its OTR tyre plant in Bloomington, Illinois, reports Tire Review. A proposal before local authorities would see property tax on the plant locked into its current rate for five years, even when the tyre maker makes improvements to the facility – Bridgestone intends to add plant equipment that would enable the manufacture of 25-inch OTR radials in Bloomington.
More than 25 CEOs and business leaders from the rubber and associated sectors are expected to speak at next year’s World Rubber Summit, including representatives from Bridgestone, Goodyear, Lanxess and Michelin. Event organiser, the International Rubber Study Group, has announced that next year’s summit will take place in Singapore on 22 to 24 May 2012 and be accompanied by World Rubber Week activities.
On 9 December Bridgestone Corporation received a visit from the president of Costa Rica, H.E. Mrs Laura Chinchilla Miranda. During Mrs Chinchilla’s visit to the tyre maker’s headquarters she met with Shoshi Arakawa, chairman of the Board, CEO and president, as well as several other Bridgestone executives.
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