Sumitomo Rubber sets out global business strategy

Kobe, Japan – Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) remains focused on building premium tire brands, expanding Dunlop globally and improving profitability across all business segments.

Providing progress on its 2023–2027 mid-term plan, SRI said it aimed at accelerating global brand integration around Dunlop brand, noting that it has launched Dunlop tire operations in North America and Oceania since the brand acquisition from Goodyear in May. (ERJ report)

Among other goals, SRI said it intended to expand the sales of ‘premium year-round tires’ in Europe and the US with Dunlop brand, featuring its ‘active tread technology’.

The Japanese group expects to expand all-season tire sales by 330% times in Europe, representing a 90% growth in the ‘tier 2’ Falkon brand and the introduction of Dunlop with an estimated 240% growth.

In the US, SRI aims to grow all-season sales by 500%, reflecting a 130% growth in Falken and a 370% contribution from Dunlop.

The aim, it said, is to gain a “premium position” with Dunlop and maintain a ‘top position’ with Falken while using the SRI proprietary ‘active tread’ technology.

The technology is claimed to “adjust” the rubber’s properties in response to water and temperature, and adapt to the road surface conditions.

The technology allows the rubber’s softness to vary with the environment to enable safe driving in diverse weather conditions.

SRI said it intended to further evolve the technology for the European and American markets to include ‘water’ and ‘thermal’ switch features which enable improved flexibility in wet and snowy surfaces.