Based in Japan, Bridgestone Corporation is the world’s largest tyre and rubber company.
With an additional US$42 million investment, Bridgestone Americas plans to commercialise its activities with guayule, a desert shrub that offers an alternative source of natural rubber. The aim is sustainable commercial production of guayule-derived natural rubber by the end of the decade.
Bridgestone Americas will spend US$550 million over the coming two years on the expansion and modernisation of its Warren County truck and bus radial tyre plant in the US state of Tennessee. The project will add 380 jobs to the Warren County workforce and expand the plant’s existing footprint by 850,000 square feet (around 79,000 square metres).
The Firestone Polymer Engineering Pilot Center (PEPC) in Akron, Ohio has become the first Bridgestone facility in North America to gain International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) Plus recognition for sustainable raw material transparency and traceability. PEPC is part of the Bridgestone Americas Technology Center, which serves as a hub for Bridgestone’s entire innovation, research and product development within the Americas region.
Bridgestone has brought its award-winning tyre range to life to scores of onlookers on the first day of the British Motor Show 2022 – and is urging thousands more to come and find out about its premium products over the next three days.
Bridgestone’s newest ultra-high performance tyre, the Potenza Sport offered the best results in wet and dry performance in the latest Auto Express tyre test. The tyre was able to make the most of its home field advantage as the magazine used Bridgestone’s Aprilla proving ground, just besting Goodyear’s Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 by 0.5 per cent. Another notable result was the third-place finish of the Maxxis Victra Sport 5, which adds to a growing list of test successes proving that the brand is increasingly able to hold its own against the traditional premium brands. The test was conducted on the biggest selling 18” tyre size, 225/40R18 92Y. This UHP tyre test of seven products was split from the “UUHP mini test” of three of the highest-performing road tyre products, won by the new Continental SportContact 7. For the UHP test, Auto Express weighted its results to reflect UK driving needs: wet tests counted for 50 per cent of the final mark, dry 40 per cent, and the remaining 10 per cent on noise, fuel economy and price.
On a global level, Bridgestone has managed to keep its return on sales at a high level in the first half of the year. And the EMIA region is no exception. While Bridgestone EMIA laid the foundations for the turnaround last year after years with return on sales close to or below zero, the Japanese manufacturer generated a return of 8.9 per cent in the second quarter after 9.6 per cent in the first quarter, resulting in a total of 9.2 per cent for the first half of the year (previous year: 4.9 per cent).
Bridgestone sales revenues shot up 24.9 per cent to 1,886 billion yen (£11.632 billion; 13.764 billion euros) in the first half of 2022. However, Bridgestone’s continuing operations figures also show that operating profit dropped 1.4 per cent to 173 billion yen, resulting in 117 billion yen of profit attributable to owners (down 10.5 per cent compared with the same period in 2022). As a result, Bridgestone revised up its full-year revenue forecasts, but revised down its comparable full-year earnings per share estimates by 10 per cent from 397.58 yen per share to 357.93 yen per share.
As part of an ongoing partnership with Škoda, Bridgestone has developed tyres featuring its Enliten technology for the all-electric Škoda Enyaq iV. Bridgestone is supplying Turanza Eco tyres for the SUV in either size 235/55 R19 101T; 235/50 R20 100T (front axle or all-round) and 255/45 R20 101T (rear); or for cars delivered with 21-inch rims, 235/45 R21 101T XL (front or all-round) and 255/40 R21 102T XL (rear). The tyre maker also offers Škoda an 18-inch tyre that is not fitted to UK-spec models.
Bridgestone Corporation has extended Enliten to the light truck segment, and next month will introduce the first Bridgestone truck tyres featuring the weight and rolling resistance technology.
Bridgestone Corporation owns almost 24,000 hectares of natural rubber plantations in Indonesia and has approved plans to increase yields there to ensure a sustainable supply of natural rubber for its tyre production. The company will invest US$26.7 million by 2030. The aim of these investments is to enhance the plantations’ productivity, with Bridgestone setting a goal of doubling harvest volumes (compared with 2022 projections) in a given area in 2035.
In early July, German insurance company HUK-Coburg bought a 25.1 per cent stake in tyre and fast-fit chain Pitstop. HUK-Coburg will now add Pitstop’s garages to its auto service network offering, which sees motorists – both HUK-Coburg insurance customers and non-customers – pre-book basic vehicle servicing online.
Bridgestone Corporation is investing to increase production capacity for motorcycle tyres at its Nasu plant in Japan, its sole motorcycle tyre production facility worldwide. The tyre maker will invest approximately 1.7 billion yen (£10.4 million) to gradually expand output potential from 2026, with capacity rising by approximately 90,000 units.
Two years after first partnering to develop an intelligent tyre monitoring system, Bridgestone Corporation is extending its collaboration with Microsoft. It will use Microsoft Azure to create value for customers, primarily global fleets and OEMs, by integrating advanced tyre analytics to provide a better overview of treadwear and casing health. By doing so, Bridgestone aims to raise customer productivity and efficiency by maximising retreading and informing when tyre maintenance may be needed.
Today is a big day for the Bridgestone team tasked with developing tyres containing natural rubber derived from the guayule desert shrub. An all-new Firestone race tyre with a sidewall made with this rubber makes its competition debut at this weekend’s IndyCar Series racing in Nashville, USA.
Several Bridgestone-related companies in China have changed their industrial and commercial registration information recently. Indeed, the changes suggest Bridgestone has pulled out of several non-tyre projects in the People’s Republic
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