Based in Japan, Bridgestone Corporation is the world’s largest tyre and rubber company.
Starting January 2015, Bridgestone Europe is rolling out a new range of EVO marked on/off truck and bus radials. These higher load capacity tyres aim to give operators in the construction and mining sectors the opportunity to carry heavier loads – without compromising tyre performance, cut resistance and durability.
Motorcycling Australia has announced that Bridgestone has joined the ranks of tyre suppliers to Australia’s leading motorcycle racing series, the Australian Superbike Championship. The series organiser reports the inclusion of Bridgestone in the 2015 MA Homologated Tyre List; its addition means that riders in this year’s ASBK Championship have a choice of four brands – they can also compete on Pirelli, Dunlop and Sava rubber.
Honda Racing Corporation’s Hiroshi Aoyama has told MotoGP’s official website that his first contact with Michelin’s tyres – at Sepang testing at the end of 2014 – made him feel “comfortable”. He added that while conditions were hot, and he would want to improve the bike’s interaction with Michelin’s rubber, “tyre performance was already quite good.”
Bridgestone has doubled the coverage offered by its Dayton truck tyre range, which it offers in the US and Canadian markets. Eight new Dayton patterns have joined the line-up and, says Bridgestone Commercial, meet the diverse needs of small fleets and owner operators in a multitude of trucking segments. The product launch coincides with the launch of a new daytontrucktires.com website and tagline, ‘Tires for Truckers’.
Bridgestone Corporation subsidiary Bridgestone Middle East & Africa East FZE (BSMEA) announced today its appointment of Zantrak International s.a.l. as its first sole distributor in the Republic of Iraq. Under this agreement, Zantrak International will exclusively distribute Bridgestone brand consumer, commercial and off-road tyres and tubes in Iraq.
An official groundbreaking has been held for the new 30-storey Bridgestone Americas headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. The new 47,750 square metre building is being erected with an investment exceeding US$200 million and will house more than 1,700 company employees when completed in the middle or latter part of 2017. This figure includes 600 jobs from business units currently located in other parts of the US.
According to news reports in the US, Bridgestone intends to lay off almost 70 people from its agricultural tyre factory in Des Moines, Iowa. Whotv.com writes that the 69 layoffs will be voluntary and are planned to counter declining industry-wide demand for agricultural tyres. Bridgestone will re-evaluate the layoffs at the end of the first quarter of 2015.
A court in China has ruled in favour of Bridgestone Corporation, determining that two Chinese companies, Jianxin Rubber (Fujian) Co. Ltd and PT.Beststone Rubber Industries Co. Ltd., infringed the Japanese tyre maker’s design rights. The Zhengzhou Higher People’s Court ruled that a pre-cure tread the companies manufactured and sold for truck and bus tyres violated Bridgestone’s design rights.
Bridgestone says it is “ramping up its plans to make 2015 a year to remember in the world of motocross” after securing the services of a multiple British champion to promote its tyre range. Paul Malin will add his presence to Bridgestone’s day of riding at Apex Motocross in Worcester on 19 February, which will showcase the brand’s X30 and X40 motocross tyres. Seven-time Dakar Rally competitor Mick Extance will also get to grips with the tyres during a day that promises to be one of the biggest and most comprehensive motocross events ever organised by Bridgestone.
At the end of October 2014, Robin Shaw took over as the managing director of Bridgestone’s North Europe region, which includes the UK as well as the Nordic markets. Shaw replaced John McNaught who had been with the company for 12 years. He joined at a time when reorganisation is taking place within the wider European business and when a number of key UK and North region managers have either retired or gone off to pastures new. Tyres & Accessories caught up with Robin Shaw as he was en route to Brussels for one of many meetings he has had with European executives during the beginning of his tenure.
Regional government ministers in India met with tyre makers on 18 December to discuss rubber prices. Chief minister of the state of Kerala, Oomen Chandy has chaired a meeting which proposed a minimum guaranteed price for rubber growers – a price of around Rs 125 to 130 (£1.25 to £1.30) per kilogramme was suggested. In recent times the price paid to Indian rubber growers has dipped as low as Rs 90 per kilogramme, a price considered unsustainable.
It’s more than three years since Bridgestone Corporation first announced its work with what it calls Contact Area Information Sensing, or CAIS. When it initially presented CAIS at the IAA Cars show in 2011, the tyre maker proposed the use of the “future technology” for determining road surface conditions. Now Bridgestone says it has developed a system based on CAIS that can estimate tyre wear and tread depth. No timetable for rolling out the technology in volume-production tyres has been announced at this stage.
Three hundred and not out – Bridgestone Australia reports its retail network recently scored its third century, with 300 franchise and license stores now operating in the country under the Bridgestone name. The company’s franchise business began in Australia with Bridgestone Tyre Centres in 1986 and expanded in 2006 with the launch of Bridgestone Select franchised stores and licensed Bridgestone Service Centres.
The Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) has granted Bridgestone Americas’ Monterrey tyre factory in Mexico Corporate Lands for Learning and Wildlife at Work certification. The passenger car and light truck tyre manufacturing facility thus becomes the first Bridgestone plant outside the US to receive these two certifications. In addition, the Monterrey plant was a runner-up for the Corporate Lands for Learning 2014 Rookie of the Year award.
Having tied up its tyre partnership for the next five years with Bridgestone in April, commercial fleet operator Ryder says that tyre-related breakdowns for its customers have fallen by 28 per cent. The new contract heralded the introduction of a range of initiatives aimed at maximising fleet uptime and lowering running costs, Bridgestone states.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.