The current Red Bull Air Race World Champion and Falken-supported athlete, Yoshihide Muroya continued his run of success by securing second place in the first race of the 2018 season, held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. For the fourth consecutive year Falken is sponsoring the Red Bull Air Race pilot as he competes in the fastest motorsport in the world.
Mitsuteru Tanigawa has become the new CEO of Falken Tyre Europe. Tanigawa (61), replaces Masatsugu Nishino, who has moved to Turkey to head up Sumitomo Rubber Industries’ manufacturing facility.
This year, the Falken tyre brand will serve as presenting partner for the Audi Nines, an annual invitational for some of the world’s best Skicross and Snowboardcross athletes. In 2018, the event comes to Sölden, Austria for the first time and will be held on 14 April.
As we go to print on the December issue of Tyres & Accessories, Micheldever Group is marking a year since Sumitomo Rubber Industries, manufacturer of Falken Tyres for which MTS is UK distributor, bought the UK tyre distributor from previous owner Graphite Capital Management. While the sale was not unexpected, the identity of the new owner may have been somewhat surprising, though SRI’s investment in Falken Tyre Europe following the late-2015 dissolution of its alliance agreement with Goodyear makes the acquisition of a leading distributor a logical move. For Micheldever’s board, SRI was said to be an attractive new owner, with the presumption that it would offer offering longevity, stability, and consistency; as a large, well-established, high quality top-six tyre manufacturer seeking to broaden its knowledge of UK distribution with an already successful business.
Two Falken tyres have been approved as original equipment on the new Volkswagen T-Roc. Following Falken’s approval as OEM supplier in August, the Azenis FK453CC and the Ziex ZE914A Ecorun will be fitted to the compact SUV in various sizes.
This year has been a strong one for Falken Tyre on the motorsport front. It has racked up a plethora of titles from its motorsport activities and also secured a first victory in the VLN Endurance Championship as well as a top-ten finish at the notoriously challenging Nürburgring 24-hour race.
Falken’s status as the official tyre partner of Liverpool Football Club is one of the latest in an extended series of tyre and football partnerships. Tyres & Accessories took the opportunity of Falken’s first event at Anfield to ask director and senior executive officer, Sumitomo Rubber Industries Yutaka Kuroda and chief commercial officer and managing director at Liverpool FC Billy Hogan to illustrate how the partnership will be used to benefit both parties. In addition to the particular synergies between the club and tyre brand, their answers also illustrate why there has been such a boom in partnerships between top-tier football clubs and tyres in recent years.
Falken Tyres and Liverpool Football Club marked their global partnership with a shirt presentation ahead of the club’s game with Chelsea on Saturday 25 November at Anfield. Falken opted to sponsor the game, and accordingly its branding was displayed prominently in the players’ coach entrance, in the Liverpool dugout and on the LED sideboards. 50,477 fans saw an entertaining game end in a 1-1 draw.
Falken’s Azenis FK453, Sincera 832A Ecorun, Ziex ZE914A EC, and Eurowinter HS449 winter tyre have been chosen as original equipment on the sixth-generation Volkswagen Polo. The tyres are all produced at the Sumitomo Rubber Industries plant in Thailand.
In a preview of what may come in the 2018 Tyres & Accessories social media ranking, Falken Tyres UK has come eighth in an updated version of the 2017 table. Due to the fact that @FalkenTyreUK is a new handle and didn’t show up when we were conducting searches earlier this year, Falken UK’s data has only just come to light.
Sumitomo Rubber Industries has announced a new original equipment supply arrangement for the North American market. The tyre maker has begun supplying the Falken Ziex ZE001 A/S to Subaru Corporation for fitment on its new Crosstrek (known as the Subaru XV in other market). A size 225/55R18 98H tyre has been selected for the Crosstrek.
The 2017 VLN Endurance Championship is, states Falken Tyre Europe, its most successful season to date. The win by the Falken Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 in the fourth race of the season gave the tyre maker its first overall victory since the start of its Nürburgring commitment in 1999. The Porsche 911 GT3 R team added two more podium finishes later in the season. The final race of the season took place on the weekend with Falken Motorsport team’s Porsche 911 GT3 R, driven by Klaus Bachler and Romain Dumas, taking fourth place. Peter Dumbreck and Stef Dusseldorp had a great race in their BMW M6 GT3 coming from behind to finish in 11th place overall.
The Falken summer tyre portfolio is expanding with the launch of the Ziex ZE310 Ecorun. This successor to the Ziex ZE914 Ecorun is said to offer outstanding traction and excellent grip on both wet and dry roads, coupled with low wear performance.
Falken plans to launch its latest summer tyres during its debut as an exhibitor at the Equip Auto trade show in Paris (17-21 October 2017). The new Ziex ZE310 Ecorun summer tyre, available from spring 2018, will be launched as the successor to Falken’s Ziex ZE914 Ecorun. Falken says the new tyre offers outstanding traction and grip on both wet and dry roads coupled with low wear.
According to a permit issued by a state authority, car tyre capacity at Sumitomo Rubber USA’s plant in Tonawanda, New York will double to 10,000 tyres per day. In addition to its existing production of 5,000 motorcycle tyres per day and 2,000 medium truck/bus tyres per day, this expansion will lift the plant’s annual rubber production capacity to 250 million pounds or 113,400 tonnes.
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