Yokohama ADVAN-equipped and supported Japanese driver Fumio Nutahara took his second rally win of the season in the FIA Production car World Rally Championship on Rally Japan in early September. This brings his total to two wins from three events so far and he is now second in the championship with three more scoring opportunities.
Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., broke ground for the construction of its new Suzhou Yokohama Tire Co., Ltd., factory on 11 August. The new “affiliate” facility will produce and sell steel radial tyres for truck and buses in China.
Following Tyres & Accessories’ pioneering publication of online tyre brand penetration rankings last year, T&A has again enlisted the assistance of Cambridge-based e-marketing specialists Envisional. The report exclusively published in this month’s magazine shows some marked changes in the relatively short time since the 2005 survey.
While Michelin remained top of the virtual pile in terms of quantity, Pirelli beat the French tyre giant in terms of the quality of references to the brand. Goodyear and Dunlop showed that the two brands’ marketing investments have paid off. They remained relatively flat in terms of prominence, but made sharp improvements in terms of sentiment. In this respect (see magazine for sentiment chart) Dunlop jumped from fifth to second place overall, while Goodyear rose from sixth to fourth. Continental took the largest hit of the premium manufacturers, falling from third to sixth on the sentiment index. Interestingly, Uniroyal achieved the lowest number of negative references overall.
Having closed its unionised tyre plant in Mayfield, Kentucky, and all but closed its unionised Charlotte tyre plant, Continental Tire North America (CTNA) has turned its attention to upgrading its non-union plant in Mount Vernon, Illinois. Last week, CTNA announced a three-year, $70 million to $100 million capital investment programme for the facility – the only dedicated and operating tyre plant CTNA owns in North America.
(Akron/Tire Review) In the US Yokohama Tire Corp. said it will increase prices on all of its tyre lines as of 1 October. The increase includes all Yokohama and Mohawk branded lines, as well as associate and private brand produced by Yokohama. The increases of up to 7 per cent on passenger, light truck /SUV and medium truck tyres, and up to 8 per cent on OTR tyres, Yokohama said. In-line adjusts will also be made, Yokohama said, and will be announced later.
Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., posted an 11 per cent increase in net sales, to 106.8 billion yen (£486.7 million), in the three months ended 30 June. The increase resulted primarily from robust growth in overseas tyre business, according to the company. Tire sales also benefited from increased shipments to automakers in Japan. However, the rising prices for raw materials offset the sales growth in the Tire Group, and operating income in the group declined 64.6 per cent, to 1 billion yen (£4.56 million).
Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd., has announced that the company’s Advan Sport (V103S) tyre has been approved by Audi AG for original equipment on the new S8 model. The 265/35ZR20 99Y XL tyres are the first Yokohama products to be fitted to an Audi and the latest addition to Yokohama’s Advan Sport flagship series.
Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner scored a victory in the 2006 Le Mans 24 Hours in front of 235,000 spectators. Audi has effectively succeeded in its bold bid to win the world’s most demanding endurance race with diesel technology. And Michelin rose to the challenge to join its partner on the top of the podium, its ninth consecutive victory at Le Mans. The French tyre firm was also successful in the LMGT1 category with Chevrolet Corvette and in LMP2 with the RML-run Lola.
Pirelli also came away with honours after the LNT British team, Panoz Esperante, won the LMGT2 category. Pirelli took the LMGT2 title with Yokohama-equipped teams following in second and fifth places in the same category.
(Akron/Tire Review) In the US Yokohama Tire Corp. has expanded its performance tyre lines – Advan Sport, Advan S.4., Advan S.T., Parada Spec-X and ES100 – with a series of new sizes. During this year, Yokohama added 27 sizes to the Advan Sport line, seven sizes to the Advan S.4. line, and three sizes to the Advan S.T. line. Seventeen sizes were recently added to the Parada Spec-X line, and two sizes were added to ES100 line.
Yokohoma has announced plans to build a light truck and motorcycle tyre plant in Vietnam over the coming 13 months. According to analysts reports, the plant is expected to come on-line by June 2007, with annual capacity of 3,100 metric tonnes of mixed rubber.
International stunt driving ace Terry Grant drove himself into the records books yet again recently, by performing two car control records for the Guinness World Records TV show in Madrid, Spain. He used his new TVR Sagaris to break the 2005 Guinness World Record set by Dale Morrison for 69 consecutive and uninterrupted ‘donuts‘. (360° on the spot spins). Terry coaxed the standard road-going Sagaris and its Yokohama tyres to a total of 71 to snatch the record.
(Akron/Tire Review) With Ohio Governor Bob Taft on hand, Yokohama Tire Corp. dedicated its new 650,000-square-foot distribution center in Groveport, Ohio, near Columbus, yesterday. The new facility, Yokohama’s fourth distribution center in the US, will be fully operational in July and can hold some 1.2 million passenger and light truck/SUV tyres. The warehouse, which was finished to Yokohama’s specifications and is being leased, will service tyre dealers and other customers in the northeast.
Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., has announced that it will increase its bias tyre production capacity for motorcycles and light trucks in Vietnam by 2.5 times. For this, the company will begin constructing a new tyre plant in June of this year production set to start in June 2007. Yokohama Rubber plans to invest a total of 1 billion yen (7 million euros) in this construction programme.
(Akron/Tire Review) Yokohama Rubber Co. has launched a “grand plan” for the next dozen years leading up to its 100th anniversary, a three-phase management scheme that calls for 10 per cent in operating profits by 2018.
Yokohama is planning to establish a passenger car tyre production plant in Europe in 2008. The news came in the context of a dealer presentation by the German distribution company Yokohama Reifen GmbH. Observers suggest that the move is likely to be a way of strengthening ongoing OE projects and relationships. Yokohama did not specify which locations are being considering, give details of which tyre lines might be produced, or suggest how much would be invested.
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