Based in Japan, Bridgestone Corporation is the world’s largest tyre and rubber company.
Ask Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO) who its new president of US & Canada Commercial Tire Sales is, and the answer you’ll receive will be Kurt. As in former president of Bridgestone Commercial Solutions, Kurt Danielson. In addition to this promotion, Danielson has also assumed the position of senior vice-president at Bridgestone Americas.
The latest edition of Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport contains its annual summer tyre test, and 2014 is something of a jubilee year – the magazine published its first tyre test exactly 50 years ago, a test that pitted modern radials against conventional cross-ply tyres. This year’s winner in the size 205/55R16V comparison – a size unimaginable half a century ago – is the ContiPremiumContact 5. Tyres that were “recommended” include (in order) the Uniroyal Rainsport 3, Pirelli Cinturato P7, Dunlop Sport BluResponse, Toyo Proxes CF2, Hankook Ventus Prime 2 and Michelin Energy Saver+. The Premiorri Solazo and – surprisingly and disappointingly – the Bridgestone Turanza T001 were only “conditionally recommended”. The Westlake Radial RP 18 and GT Champiro VP1 E/C were labeled “not recommended”. The tyres were tested fitted to a VW Golf.
Although construction work at Bridgestone Americas’ new Aiken County plant in South Carolina is still ongoing, Tire Review reports that the production of 9-foot OTR tyres has already begun there. The tyre maker is building a 1.5 million-square-foot (approximately 140,000 square metre) facility to produce OTR tyres for quarry and construction machine applications. Bridgestone says equipment to produce larger 12-foot tyres should be ready by 2015.
This week a new motorcycle championship gets underway for the first time, and Bridgestone will serve as sole tyre supplier for the series. The inaugural season of the Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup begins in Qatar on 21 March, and over the coming half year it will be followed by rounds in Indonesia, China, Japan, and two rounds in Malaysia. For the first race, Bridgestone will supply its Racing Battlax R03 (front) and R04 (rear) tyres; around 1,500 of the new Racing Battlax V02 (GP3) tyres will be supplied to subsequent rounds.
As of early May, Shinichi Sato will step down as managing director of Thai Bridgestone Co., Ltd. Bridgestone Corporation has not yet named his successor. Sato will continue as president of Bridgestone Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd, a role he has concurrently held alongside his Thai Bridgestone position since 1 July 2012.
At the end of April, Yutaka Yamaguchi will end his tenure as managing director of the Bridgestone Technical Center Europe. The tyre maker has not yet named his successor in this Italy-based role.
In 2014, Cambrian Tyres says it is going to be working as hard as ever to ensure it remains a one stop shop for motorcycle and scooter tyres. As the largest motorcycle tyre distributor in the UK, the company sees itself as being in the perfect position to monitor and react to trends, and then make sure everything its customers need is available. With over 100,000 tyres in stock and a 98.6 per cent next working day delivery success rate across the UK, Cambrian says everything its customers need is just a phone call away.
Bridgestone’s newest passenger transport commercial vehicle tyre, the U-AP 001, will be available in the UK from April. The urban bus and coach specialist product, designated by the first letter in its name as part of Bridgestone’s new nomenclature convention, is an all-position tyre developed for city environments. The manufacturer has also upgraded the load capacity of its European M788 Evo tyre, the “backbone” of its bus and coach tyre offering, in order to cope with the heavier weight of Euro VI vehicles.
Bridgestone has announced three new US-based marketing appointments within its Bridgestone Commercial Solutions business. Matt Loos has been promoted to director of truck and bus marketing, Michelle Lane has been promoted to director of off-the-road marketing, and Cassandra Kilareski has joined the Bridgestone Commercial Solutions marketing team as senior manager of marketing communications and digital.
Bridgestone has called the 2014 Commercial Vehicle Show “our most significant opportunity of the entire year”, announcing its intention to display its Total Tyre Care fleet services from its large stand. Its three tyre management pillars, Total Tyre Life, Total Tyre Services and Total Tyre Systems will be the most prominent visual features in the overall stand design, which will also boast a golf simulator, designed to display Bridgestone’s sports products at an industry show for the first time.
Fleet operators visiting Bridgestone at this year’s Commercial Vehicle Show will get the first glimpse of an innovative new Bridgestone global application. The world’s largest tyre manufacturer has developed a digital fleet management solution to meet the needs of operators and the brand’s sales and technical teams alike. The ‘Toolbox Touch’ is a native Windows […]
Giti Tire has announced the appointment of former Bridgestone employee Fabio Pecci-Boriani to the newly created position of senior product marketing manager across its European operation. Pecci-Boriani has a brief to develop the manufacturer’s Passenger Car and Light Truck tyre portfolios throughout Europe. Formerly pricing manager at Volvo, Pecci-Boriani will report directly to Richard Lyons, […]
A new report published by Bharrat Books predicts that the Saudi Arabian tyre market revenues will grow 12 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during the period between 2013 and 2018.
Bridgestone has launched its new Blizzack LM001 winter tyre for small to mid-sized cars in an event at its Swedish Proving Ground in Vidsel, less than 100km from the Arctic Circle. Following on from the introduction of its Blizzack LM-32 winter tyre for higher performance cars in August 2013, the tyre is designed to improve snow and wet performance, as well as in longevity.
Dunlop will test nine separate specifications of rear tyre at Australia’s Phillip Island circuit as it seeks to avoid similar problems to those that caused the Moto2 and Bridgestone-supplied MotoGP races to be shortened in October 2013. The circuit was resurfaced in 2013, and its abrasiveness caused the organisers of the Australian grand prix to […]
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