Toyo Tire Corporation has appointed Hiroaki Takizawa general manager of its Europe, Africa & Middle East Sales Department and Sales Division. Takizawa joins the company on 1 September, succeeding Masaomi Kono in these roles.
Toyo Tire Corporation will end the manufacture of non-tyre automotive parts at its subsidiary in the USA. The cessation of production at Toyo Automotive Parts (USA), Inc. will take effect on 31 October 2023, and the company will be dissolved as a business entity. The closure of the Franklin, Kentucky-based business affects (as of June 2023) 207 employees.
Toyo Tires is supporting the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Championships between 1-12 August in Bern, Switzerland. The tyre-maker’s participation comes in line with its new partnership with the IFSC, announced in June. Toyo’s European CEO, Kenta Kuribayashi said that Toyo’s partnership was inspired by the sport’s growing global community, which “resonates with Toyo Tire’s philosophy” of “creativity and innovation”.
Iori Suzuki will retire as chairman, president and chief executive officer of Toyo Tire Holdings of Americas Inc. (TTHA) on 31 July 2023, and two will fill the roles he vacates the following day. Tatsuo Mitsuhata is to become chairman and chief executive officer of TTHA, and Nobuo Yoshida has been named the business’s president and chief operating officer.
As of 1 July, Ralf Gutena is the new director of sales and marketing at Toyo Tire Holdings of Europe GmbH. Switching to Toyo from Kumho Tire Europe, Gutena is based in Germany and responsible for increasing market penetration in Europe.
As of 1 July 2023, Yoji Imura has taken on new responsibilities at Toyo Tires. The former president of Toyo Tire Serbia LLC is now chairman and chief executive officer of the Serbian business. Kadir Aykut Gidergi, previously plant manager in Serbia, is now president and chief operating officer of Toyo Tire Serbia LLC, effective 1 July.
Toyo Tire Holdings of Europe GmbH has renewed its partnership with the AIG Women’s Open 2023 at Walton Heath. It’s the fifth time Toyo has sponsored the event, which will take place at Walton Heath in Surrey from 10-13 August.
Toyo’s Open Country ATIII SUV tyre has won a Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun Goods Award. Established in 1987, the award recognises products that have contributed to the automotive Car parts announced and released between April 2022 and June 2023 are eligible. In addition, sales volume, development ideas, relevance and social conditions are considered. The selection committee also referred to the results of surveys received from car parts retailers and maintenance outlets to provide their evaluation.
There are many changes in our latest leading tyre manufacturers ranking. The 2023 table, which lists the world’s leading tyre companies according to their full-year 2022 financial results, particularly highlights the shifts that have taken place this year in the second half of the top 20. Meanwhile, the top nine tyremakers appear to be an increasingly stable group. Between places nine and 10, there is still a gap of some 1 billion euros, something that is clearly hard to overcome for newcomers. However, as insurmountable as it appears, the gap is obviously narrowing.
Toyo Tires with Ring Racing had a successful outing in its recent visit to the Nordschleife, achieving a podium finish in the Nürburgring Langstrecken Series race. After qualifying fourth in their Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2023, Heiko Tönges took the start in car number 170, with Michael Tischner taking over for the middle stint and team principal Uwe Kleen bringing it home for the finish. The Toyota GR Supra was equipped with Nürburgring-soec Toyo Proxes Slicks.
Toyo’s European operation held an opening event at its Serbian factory on 5 June. The company was celebrating the start of deliveries to Europe of tyres manufactured at the plant; it had already been producing tyres for the North American market in Serbia as the plant went through the process of obtaining the correct certifications for Europe. With these procedures completed, the plant is now producing two patterns for Europe: the best-selling Proxes Comfort and the increasingly popular all-season tyre, Celsius AS2. These two products alone represent around 30 per cent of all of its tyres sold in Europe.
Toyo’s Proxes Sport 2 ultra-high performance tyre has been presented with a Red Dot Design Award in the 2023 competition. The Proxes Sport 2 was launched in 2022, engineered using nano technology for the high torque of performance vehicles. The tyre gained recognition from Auto Bild Sportscars, awarded a “Good” recommendation in its product testing. Toyo says the Red Dot design award underlines its product design “excellence”.
Toyo has introduced its Open Country A/T III to the UK market, stating that it is “ready for anything road surfaces and weather conditions can throw at it.”
Toyo Tires has commenced a partnership agreement with the International Federation of Sport Climbing in Europe. As a result, the brand will be present at selected European events in the IFSC calendar. Toyo’s European CEO, Kenta Kuribayashi said: “At Toyo Tires, we are very excited to be partnering and supporting the IFSC and look forward to being part of a young, energetic, and growing sports climbing community. Watching the Sports Climbing athletes push their boundaries of possibilities is truly inspirational and resonates with Toyo Tire’s philosophy to continue advancing creativity and innovation to offer tyre products that exceed customer expectations around to world. We hope to support the growth of sports climbing in Europe and around the world.”
Five months after the opening its new tyre factory in the Municipality of Indjija, Toyo first Serbia-made tyres have arrived in the UK. Aboard this historic shipment are the Proxes Comfort, the passenger and eco car-targeted offering from the Proxes range.
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Lena Drapella/IFSC
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