As of 16 January, Jeff Barna joins Yokohama Rubber’s North American business as chief operating officer. In his new role at Yokohama Tire Corporation, Bara will report to company president Shinichi Takimoto and be responsible for sales, marketing and product planning functions. Barna will also be a member of Yokohama Tire Corporation’s executive committee.
Yokohama HPT has given directional the Advan Fleva V701 tyre its UK debut. Previewed at the 2016 Geneva Motorshow, the new tyre is now available in sizes ranging from 15 – 20 inches, the new tyre delivers sporty handling. The tyre has achieved an EU wet grip grading of ‘A’ and offers very low levels noise levels of 67-69 dB.
Yokohama motorsport is anticipating “one of the most exciting seasons in recent times” in the manufacturer’s centenary year from its stand at Autosport International. In addition to launching the Advan A052 road-legal track tyre, it will support high-profile FIA circuit racing through to grass roots rallying and rallycross.
Yokohama Rubber has confirmed its exhibition presence at the Tokyo Auto Salon 2017, which will be held at Makuhari Messe between 13 and 15 January. The Yokohama exhibit will feature booths dedicated to tyres and alloy wheels, with the spotlight particularly thrown upon the company’s Advan global flagship brand by the presence of two Advan-shod racing cars.
Yokohama will launch three new high performance tyres for motorsport, road and off-road applications at Autosport International next week. The NEC, Birmingham show is also an important one for the company not only as Europe’s largest indoor pre-season motorsport event, but as the start of its centenary year celebrations. The road-legal race tyre, Advan A052 will make its UK debut; Yokohama’s new tyre for sports, tuned and performance car drivers, Advan Fleva V701 will also be on display; and finally the new Geolandar A/T G015 for SUV and high performance off-road vehicles will also be revealed.
The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd, made a personnel and board member change at a meeting held on 27 December 2016. The change will be effective as of 1 January 2017.
With its tyres used by competitors in more than 26 motorsport championships in the UK alone, Yokohama continued its support in 2016 for young drivers across the three main motorsport disciplines; circuit racing, rallying and rallycross.
Yokohama has extended its agreement to supply its global flagship Advan racing tyres as the sole control tyre for the All-Japan Formula 3 Championship Series through until the end of 2019. The extension means Yokohama Rubber will be the sole tyre supplier to the championship series for nine straight years, starting from 2011.
Yokohama HPT says it has stocked one of its most comprehensive winter tyre ranges ever ahead of a season that weather forecasters predict will be the coldest UK winter for 35 years. Available for next day delivery from its central UK distribution centre, the range is suited for drivers of all cars and light commercial vehicles, and is targeted in particular at those who need to guarantee their mobility in the harshest of conditions, such as emergency services, utility companies, community nurses and doctors.
The fifth-generation Subaru Impreza, which launched in Japan on 25 October, will be fitted with Yokohama tyres as original equipment in a number of markets. Yokohama Rubber shares that it is supplying Fuji Heavy Industries two different tyre lines for fitment on cars sold in Japan, North America and Australia.
Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. has reported a decline in its sales and earnings for the first three quarters of 2016. Profit attributable to owners of the parent declined 53.5 per cent year-on-year to 8.5 billion yen (£63.0 million). This results from a 38.0 per cent decline in operating income, to 18.9 billion yen (£140.1 million), on a 7.5 per cent decline in net sales, to 410.2 billion yen (£3.0 billion). Weaker demand and declining prices in Yokohama’s principal product sectors, together with the yen’s appreciation, were the main factors behind the lower sales and earnings.
Yokohama’s research on ‘Highly accurate fluid analysis and data mining for next-generation silent tyre development’ has received an Excellent achievement research project award for general-use research themes undertaken using the High Performance Computing Infrastructure (HPCI). Yokohama’s research was conducted in cooperation with the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), a research arm of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), HPCI is promoted by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The award was announced at the third project report meeting of the HPCI System Including K computer, held at the Kokuyo Hall in Tokyo’s Minato Ward on 21 October.
Following last weekend’s hotly anticipated Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Manchester United, more than 80,000 fans attending matches at Stamford Bridge during October have received timely reminders about checking the condition of their tyres.
Local news sources report that Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Virginia (YTMV) will lay off 50 workers from its Salem facility over the next few weeks. According to WDBJ7, the Salem plant manager confirmed the layoffs last Friday, and the tyre maker wrote in a statement that that “the positions are being phased out to more effectively streamline YTMV’s current production schedule and inventory capacity.”
Following the success of the tyre safety awareness campaign run by Chelsea FC to a sell-out crowd of 42,000 fans at Stamford Bridge during last weekend’s 3-0 win against reigning Premier League Champions Leicester City, the club is set to raise awareness even further by extending the campaign to this weekend’s match against rivals Manchester United.
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