A statement published by Yokohama Rubber expresses the tyre maker’s satisfaction in gaining TÜV SÜD certification for its first European all-season tyre. The Yokohama BluEarth-4S AW21 achieved this distinction after being subjected to benchmark tests by the German technical service organisation.
Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. reports that its sales revenue increased 1.8 per cent in the first half of 2018, to 309.7 billion yen (£2.2 billion). Business profit (sales revenue less the sum of cost of sales and selling, general and administrative expenses) rose 9.5 per cent year on year to 23.8 billion yen (£166.7 million) and operating profit was up 32.3 per cent to 26.4 billion yen (£184.9 million). The company says these operating profit and sales revenue figures were the highest it ever recorded. Profit attributable to owners of parent increased 19.2 per cent year-on-year, to 17.8 billion yen (£124.7 million).
A new beginning, and also an end: 6 July, the date on which Doublestar Tire’s acquisition of a 45 per cent share in Kumho Tire was officially completed, was also the day a full stop was placed behind more than four years of technological cooperation between Yokohama Rubber and Kumho Tire. In a statement issued today, Yokohama Rubber informs that it terminated these tie-ups according to their terms and condition following the change in Kumho Tire’s controlling shareholder.
Yokohama Rubber is supporting the team led by Ikuo Hanawa in Asia’s largest cross-country rally, which begins 12 August. The company’s support for Hanawa’s team in the Asia Cross Country Rally 2018 (AXCR) includes supplying Geolandar M/T G003 tyres.
The results of joint research projects undertaken between Yokohama Rubber and two universities in Thailand since 2013 were announced at The International Polymer Conference of Thailand 2018 (PCT-8) in June. The joint research projects were conducted with researchers at Mahidol University and Prince of Songkla University and focused upon ensuring stable, reliable supplies of natural rubber.
Five years of joint research has led to a breakthrough in the production of synthetic rubber. Yokohama Rubber says it has developed the world’s first technology for efficiently producing isoprene from a biomass, and by doing so reduces dependence on petroleum.
The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. has reported the “successful completion” of its latest effort to eliminate counterfeit versions of its aluminium wheels in China. The distributor of these fake products has been sentenced to prison and also fined.
Starting in April 2018, Yokohama tyres are being fitted as original equipment to Škoda Kodiaq SUVs produced and sold in Russia. The Yokohama BluEarth-A AE-50 is being supplied in two sizes, 235/55R18 100V and 215/65R17 99V.
The Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. posted an 8.3 per cent increase in business profit (a measure basically equivalent to operating income and calculated as sales revenue less the sum of cost of sales and selling, general and administrative expenses) to 11.7 billion yen (£78.6 million), and a 27.5 per cent increase in operating profit to 14.1 billion yen (£94.8 million) in the first quarter of 2018. The company’s sales revenue in the three months to 31 March 2018 increased 2.3 per cent to 149.2 billion yen (£1.0 billion), the highest sales total ever reported by Yokohama Rubber.
The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. has announced its plans for supporting motorsport events in 2018.
For the sixth consecutive year, Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. has earned Caterpillar’s premier supplier award, Platinum Level Recertification in its Supplier Quality Excellence Process (SQEP). The award went to Yokohama’s factory in Onomichi, Japan, which produces original equipment and replacement off-the-road tyres for a wide range of equipment.
As of January, a second size of the Yokohama BluEarth-A AE-50 is being supplied as an original equipment tyre for VW Tiguan models sold in Russia. Yokohama Rubber is supplying the size 215/65R17 99V tyre to Volkswagen Group Rus, the vehicle manufacturer’s local subsidiary. The tyre maker has supplied the BluEarth-A AE-50 for OE fitment on the Tiguan in size 235/55R18 100V since June 2017.
The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. has unveiled a new medium-term management plan for the years to 2020. This new plan, dubbed Grand Design 2020 (GD2020), is the successor to the Grand Design 100 (GD100) plan that spanned the period from 2006 to 2017. GD2020 calls for a fortification of Yokohama’s business foundation by deploying a growth strategy that encompasses original approaches to each operational emphasis. Yokohama Rubber says GD2020 is a “framework for supporting new strides by Yokohama into the decade of the 2020s.”
From this year, the World Touring Car Championship will be run according to TCR technical regulations, and has been renamed WTCR – the FIA World Touring Car Cup. Yokohama Advan racing tyres have been adoped as control tyre for the WTCR races to be run in 2018–19. Under the two-year contract, Yokohama Rubber will provide its Advan A005 dry-surface tyre and Advan A006 wet-surface tyre; both will be supplied in size 250/660R18.
With the opening of a new indoor facility for testing winter tyres, Yokohama Rubber says it can improve the accuracy of its test data and thus develop more advanced technologies. The indoor test centre is located at Yokohama Rubber’s Tire Test Center of Hokkaido (TTCH) facility in Asahikawa City, Japan, and began testing tyres on 5 January ahead of its official inauguration on 30 January.
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