One of the most sensational motorsport spectacles of the year is heading to the starting grid: this year’s 24-hour race on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife will start on 20 May. Once again, the teal and blue race cars from Falken are entered for the race: two Porsche 911 GT3 R Type 992 cars aiming for victory.
A new tyre has joined the Falken Euroall Season line-up, and Falken Tyre Europe tells us that this product is “designed specifically for high-performance vehicles,” with development focusing on “good all-round winter performance.” The Falken Euroall Season AS220 Pro is available in a range of 46 dimensions.
Don’t look for it on UK roads, but motorists in selected regions will soon add the Mazda CX-90 to their large crossover SUV portfolios. The CX-90 will arrive in North America first, and when it does it will be available with Falken Ziex CT60A AS all-season tyres as original equipment.
UK truck tyre sales for Falken Tyres have increased significantly during the past 12 months, according to the Sumitomo Rubber Industries brand and its distributor Micheldever Tyre Services. In 2022, Falken sold more than 8,000 more tyres in the UK market than it did during 2021. During 2022, Falken’s RI 151, BI 856 and GI 368 proved to be the bestsellers among its portfolio of customers, managed by MTS retail chain Protyre. The 2022 increase has also supported Micheldever and Protyre’s UK truck tyre sales, with “significant” year-on-year growth since 2020 and an overall increase of 350 per cent since 2018.
It’s more than a year since Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) first announced an upcoming electric vehicle tyre for Europe. Visitors to The Tire Cologne gained a sneak preview of Falken e.Ziex last May, and a further sign of the tyre’s impending arrival came earlier this month with a strong tyre test result. SRI now confirms it is launching Falken e.Ziex as a “new line of replacement tyres for electric vehicles in Europe, where the market for EV has been growing at a rapid pace.”
The world’s largest rooftop solar panel installation on a single facility, according to Internal KEPCO Research, is being installed at Falken’s parent company (Sumitomo Rubber Industries’ – SRI) factory in Thailand.
Falken Tyre Europe GmbH has announced that it will “structurally adjust” prices across its entire brand and product portfolio.
The electric vehicle tyre market is evolving quickly, with manufacturers adding EV-appropriate technologies to existing ranges and in some cases launching new lines of specialist products. These products have several goals, most notably offering range-maximising fuel economy, increased resistance to wear, reducing noise, and the ability to carry heavier loads, all while demonstrating greater sustainability and continuing to offer a high level of safety performance. Naturally these characteristics require technological advancements in order to reconcile contradictory demands; for example, making lower-weight tyres that consume fewer materials while also increasing ruggedness to reduce wear and tyre emissions. With tyres specified for electric vehicles now appearing on the European aftermarket in greater numbers, the need for independent scrutiny is becoming greater, and German magazine Auto Motor und Sport has responded by comparing three of the newest EV-specified products with current flagships, fitted to comparable Kia EV and internal combustion engine (ICE) models.
Falken’s parent company, Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. (SRI) and Sumitomo Rubber AKO Lastik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. (SAT) will provide relief supplies worth a total of 10 million Yen (equivalent to approx. 70,000 Euro) to the victims and those who are affected by the devastating earthquake that hit southern Turkey and northern Syria. The relief supplies consist of tents, sleeping bags and blankets worth 5 million yen (equivalent approx. 35,000 Euro) from SRI and groceries worth 5 million yen (equivalent to approx. 35,000 Euro) from SAT.
Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) confirms that it will introduce tyres featuring its ‘Active Tread’ technology in 2024. Active Tread will arrive with SRI’s next-generation all-season tyre.
Falken Motorsports is set to return to NLS and the Nürburgring 24 Hours competition in 2023 with two brand-new Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) for what promises to be another action-packed season of racing on the Nordschleife.
Tyre-related business profit at Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) stood at 67.9 billion yen in 2016 and was still a respectable 41.4 billion yen in 2021, but last year dropped to 12.3 billion yen (£76.2 million). It’s therefore no surprise that SRI believes it has been investing too much capital in unprofitable businesses, and the company intends to change this.
Falken is set to show its range of car, SUV, light truck and truck tyres at the Automässan industry trade show, which will take place in Gothenburg from 18 to 21 January 2023 in Hall A02, Stand 62.
The third-generation Subaru Crosstrek went on sale in Japan in December 2022, and Sumitomo Rubber Industries shares that it is supplying its Falken Ziex ZE001 A/S as an original equipment tyre. The Crosstrek will wear the all-season Falken tyre in size 225/55R18 98V.
Bettina Feldmann has left Goodyear Germany to take on a new role at Falken Tyre Europe. The Japanese manufacturer has appointed Feldmann chief operations officer of its European business, succeeding Markus Bögner in this position. Bögner remains with the company as managing director, president and chief sales officer of Falken Tyre Europe GmbH.
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