This winter, Bridgestone Corp. will again deploy a marketing strategy that places importance on on-ice performance with a focus on their Blizzak VRX studless tires, which have reached their third sales season. According to a survey by the company, the domestic demand for studless tires is approximately 18 million units (2013). The survey shows that, until now, the demand ratio...
Tires
Yokohama Rubber President Expects Continued Momentum in North America
While announcing second quarter 2015 financial results, The Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. President Hikomitsu Noji said that sales in overseas tire markets, especially in North America, were sluggish from January to April. This was due to the fact that there were too few tire sets for SUVs, which make up over 50 percent of the market. This will be rectified with...
Domestic Tire Production Down 3.8 Percent in First Half
The Japan Automobile Tyre Manufacturers Association Inc. (JATMA) announced combined automobile tire and tire tubes production performance figures for the January–June period at a total of 536,091 tons, a 3.8 percent drop compared to the same period last year. Differentiated according to product categories, production performance for truck and bus tires and tubes dropped by 5.3 percent, for light trucks...

Ube, Lotte and Mitsubishi Launch Rubber JV in Malaysia
Chemical, construction material, and metal manufacturer Ube Industries Ltd. held an opening ceremony for its butadiene rubber (BR) joint-venture company established in Malaysia, “Lotte-Ube Synthetic Rubber” (LUSR, located in Tanjung Langsat Industrial Park, Johor, Malaysia). LUSR is a joint-venture company between Ube Industries, Lotte Chemical Corp. and its subsidiary Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Sdn. Bhd., and Mitsubishi Corp. LUSR operates...