Based in Japan, Bridgestone Corporation is the world’s largest tyre and rubber company.
Yokohoma has announced plans to build a light truck and motorcycle tyre plant in Vietnam over the coming 13 months. According to analysts reports, the plant is expected to come on-line by June 2007, with annual capacity of 3,100 metric tonnes of mixed rubber.
(Akron/Tire Review) Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire (BFNAT) will invest approximately $44 million to build a 1 million-square foot distribution centre at Cecil Commerce Center North in Jacksonville, Florida.
The announcement was made in a joint release by Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton, the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission (JEDC), Cornerstone Regional Development Partnership and Jacksonville Port Authority (Jaxport).
A big-hearted Dartford tyre dealer is gearing up for the challenge of a lifetime in aid of charity. Paul Vanner is joining 99 other people from across the UK in a project called Riders for Health, which aims to provide remote African villages with motorbikes, which are vital to enable them to obtain medical supplies from towns often hundreds of miles away.
Bridgestone Corporation has confirmed that its European subsidiary, Bridgestone Europe NV/SA (BSEU), is to build a radial truck and bus tyre production plant in Poland. Approximately 200 million euros (¥28 billion) has been earmarked for the project. The new plant will be operated by a wholly-owned subsidiary of BSEU that is to be established. Construction will begin in the first half of 2007, with production expected to get underway in the first half of 2009. Production capacity is projected to be around 5,000 tyres a day.
(Akron/Tire Review) Bridgestone Corp. has earned OE positions on a number of new Audi car and SUV models. The new fitments include: Bridgestone Potenza RE050 on the Audi A6 and A4, the Turanza ER300 on the Audi A6 Avant and A4, and the Dueler H/P Sport on the Audi Q7 SUV.
Bridgestone Corp has reported that it has developed the thinnest electronic screen in the world. The “electronic paper,” with a thickness of only 0.29mm, is expected to be utilised in e-books and hanging posters in trains, among other applications, Bridgestone said. The new material has a plastic base and is designed to prevent the deformation of stored images even when it is bent. It shows characters and images when voltage is applied to special particles sandwiched between transparent plastic sheets.
A new survey published by Bridgestone reveals that more than 80 per cent of drivers believe they have never driven on a tyre which is even slightly unsafe, but only a third of those questioned know what the legal minimum tread depth of their tyres actually is.
And while more than half of motorists claim to have checked their tyre pressures in the last month, 49 per cent of drivers do not know that an under-inflated tyre can dramatically affect a car’s stopping distance.
Bridgestone and Truck Point have announced a three-year tyre contract to supply Bridgestone truck tyres and service for the CM Downton fleet in all of its UK locations. Under the arrangement, Bridgestone UK will supply original equipment and replacement truck tyres and tyres to the Downton fleet. This will be serviced through its national Truck Point service network.
(Akron/Tire Review) News reports say that Pirelli SpA may throw its hat back into the Formula One tyre ring. According to Autosport magazine, Paul Hemery, head of Pirelli’s motorsport programme, said the company was considering all of its options after FIA began accepting bids for tyre suppliers for the 2008 season.
Bridgestone Corp. is ready to build a 300 million euro factory in the north west of Poland, according to newspapers Puls Biznesu and Gazeta Wyborcza. The papers said construction will start in spring 2007. The factory will cover 100 hectares and will be located near Stargard Szczecinski. Puls Biznesu said the plant will be operational within three years and will eventually employ 700-800 people. When asked to comment on the reports, Bridgestone Poland said it had yet to make any definite decision. The company would only say it plans to invest in Eastern Europe and expects to make its mind up in two to three months.
John Nevin, the former CEO of Firestone, died suddenly on Tuesday at his home in Illinois. He was 79.
Michael Schumacher has threatened to quit Formula One at the end of the year, according to an exclusive report in the UK newspaper, Sunday People. The article says that the seven times world champion has warned he will walk away from Ferrari if tyre manufactures Bridgestone don’t listen to him.
(Akron/Tire Review) Bridgestone Corp. confirmed May 22 that it would build an $81 million (63 million euros) carbon black plant in Mexico to service its worldwide tyre plants. The new site would be Bridgestone’s third carbon black plant; the others are located in Japan and Thailand. The new facility is scheduled to begin production in June 2008, and will have an initial annual capacity of 35,000 tons.
Bridgestone is responding to the fitment of run-flat tyres on a growing number of vehicles by giving expert guidance to technicians at BMW dealerships. To date 15 franchises comprising 22 individual outlets have completed the tyre manufacturer’s comprehensive Run-Flat Certificate Programme. It follows the fitment of Bridgestone’s Turanza ER300 RFT and Potenza RE050 RFT tyres as original equipment on BMW models such as the 1-Series, 3-Series, 5-Series and Z4.
Bridgestone e-reporter finalist Donna Law, from Merton, London, is the youngest and only female Bridgestone e-reporter finalist in 2006. In the second phase of the pan-European competition for young sports journalists, Donna Law attended the Spanish Grand Prix as a roving reporter in the GP2 series paddock.
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