Bridgestone Corporation and Michelin Group will deliver a shared perspective regarding material circularity and the ambition to increase the utilisation of recovered carbon black material in tyres. The two tyre makers will jointly present their position at the Smithers Recovered Carbon Black Conference in Amsterdam on 22 November 2021.
Firestone has targeted “shaking up the mid-price tyre segment in Europe” with its new Roadhawk, a car tyre engineered for endurance and safety. The Bridgestone brand says its Roadhawk targets mainstream motorists who drive all types of journeys – urban, highway, commute, school run, shopping – on a daily basis. The brand adds that these drivers want a tyre that gives them long-lasting performance in road conditions where wet weather, heavy traffic, sudden braking, and motorway speed are all part of the daily mix.
Following the launch of its Reifen 2016 Innovation Award winning runflat tyre for almost every car fitted with TPMS, Bridgestone has added the DriveGuard Winter. The extended mobility and safety benefits enjoyed by drivers fitting the DriveGuard have been given a new seasonal dimension, with the technology now available in a winter tyre. Bridgestone adds that, like the summer version, the DriveGuard Winter offers high standards of cold weather performance.
Tom Adams is Bridgestone Europe’s new director of replacement sales for the Consumer business unit. The former West Europe Region Consumer business unit director began in the position on 1 July, and in this Brussels-based role Adams will report to Jake Rønsholt, managing director of the Consumer business unit.
With its new DriveGuard car tyre, Bridgestone has produced a new touring product for the European market that makes the extended safety and mobility of runflat technology accessible and convenient enough to reach a broader range of drivers than ever before. Launched at a well-subscribed event in Monaco, Tyrepress finds the manufacturer rolling the dice on a newly end-user focused strategy. While the DriveGuard branding and concept of a runflat that can be fitted to any TPMS-enabled car were launched in North America two years ago, the manufacturer’s management representatives explained to T&A that the latest tyre has been developed with a newly European focus. But Bridgestone was also prepared to double down on what it considers to be a “game-changing” product. Considering the pre-existence of the runflat technologies contained within the tyre and the DriveGuard brand well before the European iteration’s launch in January’s Monaco-based event, Bridgestone laid its cards on the table when it stated that the new touring tyre would “revolutionise the tyre industry.” This sort of rhetorical gambit is rarely seen in the tyre industry, so Tyrepress was interested to learn how the company would back up these claims, and whether the tyre lives up to its billing.
The Saroléa Manx 7 electric superbike has been homologated in the Isle of Man for public road use, fitted with Bridgestone Battlax RS 10 tyres. The company plans to develop and manufacture high performance street-legal electric motorcycles in limited editions on the Isle of Man. The Manx 7 itself is derived from the Saroléa SP7, which competed in the Isle of Man TT Zero races in 2014 and 2015. Racing on Bridgestone Battlax VO2 slicks, the Saroléa narrowly missed a podium finish this year after completing the 60km TT course at an average speed of more than 170km/h.
Around one year ago, Bridgestone entered into a technical partnership with Belgian motorcycle brand Saroléa, designer of the Saroléa SP7 electric superbike. The tyre maker delivered technical support and tyre expertise for the manufacturer’s track testing and racing ambitions, which last year included the TT Zero Challenge at the Isle of Man TT series. Saroléa finished fourth at its debut appearance, and in 2015 will again look to Bridgestone for further expertise.
Michelin may be gearing up to supply the MotoGP series from 2016, but the Bridgestone name is currently still very much associated with the top-flight championship. The Japanese manufacturer reports that through a new agreement with BMW M, it will supply tyres for all MotoGP safety and medical vehicles.
Christophe de Valroger has been appointed vice-president of original equipment for Bridgestone Europe’s passenger car and light commercial vehicle tyre business. He began in this role in January 2015.
The Battlax family of motorcycle tyres has been extended to the adventure touring segment. First seen at the Intermot fair in Germany at the start of the month, the new Battlax Adventure A40 expands the all-weather potential of trail radials for the many riders who use their adventure machines primarily for on-road touring. Bridgestone says the starting point for the new product’s development was its Battle Wing tyre, and the goal its engineers held was to significantly improve the Battle Wing’s dry and wet handling without sacrificing its high-level stability and durability.
Safety is the key focus of a new advertising campaign Bridgestone launched in six key European markets this month. The claim “There is only one part of your car’s safety systems that actually touches the road” takes centre stage in this multi-channel campaign for the UK, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Polish markets.
Summer is just around the corner, but some motorists in the UK and Europe who changed over to winter tyres last autumn haven’t yet changed back. Bridgestone has issued a reminder that its time to swap to summer tyres, and gives a couple of good reasons why drivers should do this sooner rather than later.
Bridgestone has won the ‘Deutscher Mediapreis 2014’ award in Germany for its launch of the Adrenalin RE002 urban sports tyre in 2013. The tyre maker’s ‘Ultimate Experience’ launch event was voted top in the ‘Media Idea of the Year: brand experience/event’ category. The award was received by representatives of international media agency PHD Germany and OMG Fuse, agency for brand staging and social media, on behalf of Bridgestone Europe at the Mediapreis awards ceremony in Munich on 6 March.
As the first athlete took to the slopes on 23 October 2013 to begin the 2013/14 season of the FIS Audi Ski World Cup, tyre manufacturer Bridgestone began its third season of support for the winter sport tournament. The manufacturer says the event offers international coverage, while also displaying characteristics congruent with its winter tyres: safety, control, grip and balance.
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