Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (TYO:5110) has announced that it intends to make an additional investment of 153 million Brazilian reals ($37.38 million) in response to growing Brazilian demand for truck and bus tires. The investment will go toward boosting production capacity at the company’s Brazil Factory, which is set to begin production of truck and bus tires next March. Initial...
Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) recently announced that it has acquired a 100 percent share in the ETB Group, which sells car tires and provides other automotive services across the southwest of the U.K. The share acquisition for this was completed by Bridgestone’s European arm on Sept. 6. The companies have not yet disclosed the amount paid. Looking toward a stronger European...
Pirelli Japan Co. Ltd. has this month begun a sequential launch for its new line of studless winter tires, Ice Asimmetrico Plus. The Ice Asimmetrico Plus series has seen Pirelli Japan adopt a soft, durable new compound based on material used in the company’s existing Ice Asimmetrico line. By then improving the mixture and distribution of materials such as silica,...
Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) recently announced that it has entered into a joint research project for plant-derived isoprene rubber and its high-performance derivatives, working here on production technologies and practical applications for these materials. Efforts under the project look to establish plant-derived isoprene rubber as a practical, industrialized alternative to the natural rubber and oil-derived synthetic rubber currently used as raw...
Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101) is planning for Yokohama Tire Philippines Inc. (YTPI), its manufacturing subsidiary in the Philippines, to return to full production capacity by the end of 2020. This follows a fire that occurred at YTPI on May 14, 2017, affecting approximately 17,400 square meters in the northeast sector of the subsidiary’s East Plant. The plant’s buildings and...
Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5105) has downwardly revised its results forecast for calendar 2018, lowering its projections for sales by 1.3 percent, operating profit by 4.3 percent, ordinary profit by 5.2 percent and net profit by 24.1 percent when compared to initial estimates. Explaining the adjustment to operating profit, company president Takashi Shimizu first said that while raw...
