Bridgestone tells us it has been chosen to provide some 120 new original equipment tyre fitments to car manufacturers for Europe, the Middle-East and Africa. This represents an increase of more than 30 per cent. The fitments are spread across more than 40 different models from 15 different manufacturers.
Bridgestone says it leads the industry for investments in research and development. And original equipment manufacturers (OEMs ) clearly appreciate these investments. The quality and innovation of the Bridgestone premium tyre range is underlined by the car manufacturers which are committing to using them as original equipment, including brands such as Toyota, Mercedes and Porsche.
At the same time, Bridgestone continues to serve as the primary supplier for Audi, Seat, Skoda and remains strategic partner of the Volkswagen Group. At Audi, the volume of fitments has even doubled over the course of the last five years.
In addition, Bridgestone has taken a strong position with BMW. This is best acknowledged through the extensive choice of Bridgestone fitments as original equipment for the BMW 3-Series, the BMW 7-Series, BMW X5/X7 and BMW Z4.
Vehicle manufacturers have chosen Bridgestone tyres for their original equipment fitments for a wide variety of models. They include electric/hybrids such as BMW i3s, Toyota Corolla, the universal Audi A6 Allroad, tourers such as the Opel Insignia, the innovative BMW 8-series, as well as the luxury Porsche Cayenne and sport cars including the Ferrari Portofino and the Renault Mégane RS and RS Trophy. More than 85 per cent of the fitments are now for tyres with a diameter of 17” or greater.
Bridgestone claims it goes the extra mile when it comes to developing and designing tyres - working with manufacturers and accommodating their requests with imagination and creativity. The tyres are fine-tuned to specific vehicle designs to ensure every element of performance. This allows Bridgestone to respond to all sorts of challenges - ranging from rolling resistance and fuel consumption, to noise reduction, driver comfort and drive behaviour - and incorporate appropriately targeted technologies into the tyres to achieve a specific improvement.
Bridgestone is the world’s largest tyre and rubber company. It says it always pushes standards higher in the area of technology, with solutions such as B-silent, ologic and the improved run-flat technology. Every single component of Bridgestone tyres is engineered to respond to the requirement of the OEMs.
Cutting-edge tyre design technologies such as low-wear Nano Pro tech, highly dispersible silica compounds and newly designed patterns, cavity shapes and optimised skin depth as well as innovative mixing processes, allow Bridgestone to find the best balance between the tyres’ characteristics and the vehicle’s setup.
