Toyo Tires is sponsoring the fourth of five majors on the international women’s golf tour 2022, the Amundi Evian Championship. The tournament begins today in Evian-les-Bains in France, overlooking Lake Geneva.
As part of a range of structural changes taking effect on 1 April, Toyo Tires will draw upon its experiences making tyres for the demanding European market in order to benefit its development programme for other regions. The tyre maker is integrating its Europe/Module Development department, which currently operates under the Technology Development division within its R&D Headquarters, into the R&D Headquarters’ Replacement Tire Development department.
Through a new arrangement with Mitsubishi Corporation (Mitsubishi), Toyo Tire & Rubber (Toyo) aims to “survive and remain viable” during the “unprecedented transformation” currently occurring in the automotive industry. The two parties have entered into a business alliance agreement that involves Mitsubishi increasing its shareholding in Toyo from 3.05 per cent to 20 per cent. Toyo will issue Mitsubishi 26,931,956 new shares via a third-party allotment that will be paid in between 15 January and 28 June 2019. With this share acquisition, Mitsubishi becomes Toyo’s largest shareholder.
For Toyo Tire & Rubber, the first half of 2018 was a period of mixed fortunes. The manufacturer reports that turnover and earnings within its core tyre business increased 3.9 per cent during the six months to 30 June, with sales of 160,046 million yen (£1.1 billion) and operating income of 22,669 million yen (£160.8 million) resulting in a slightly improved profit margin of 14.2 per cent. Overall sales were down 3.3 per cent, to 185,738 million yen (£1.3 billion), due to decreased turnover within the company’s automotive parts business.
In recent years we’ve seen a number of tyre makers introduce noise reduction technologies that utilise foam insulation, with Continental, Hankook, Bridgestone, Sumitomo Rubber, Goodyear amongst those bringing their own version of the concept to market. Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd. has taken a different approach and sought instead to cut noise by modifying airflow within the tyre cavity. It calls its solution Toyo Silent Technology.
To help it design tyres that contribute towards lower fuel consumption and, in electric vehicles, increased range, Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. has developed its own aerodynamic simulation technology. It calls it ‘Mobility Aerodynamics’ and says the technology “represents an advance never seen in the industry before.”
Shareholders of Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd. approved the official change of company name to Toyo Tire Corporation at the company’s 102nd General Meeting of Shareholders on 29 March. The change of company name will take effect on 1 January 2019.
A resolution was passed at Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd.’s Board of Directors meeting on 15 February to change the company’s trade name to Toyo Tire Corporation. This new name will be adopted as of 1 January 2019, provided that a proposed partial amendment to the firm’s Articles of Incorporation is approved at the Toyo general meeting of shareholders on 29 March.
Better late than never – as 2017 draws to a close, we can pour ourselves a hot drink, sit by the fireplace and peruse the Toyo Tire & Rubber annual report for 2016. The 61-page document outlines the company’s progress since introducing its Mid-Term 14 business plan and outlines the new Mid-Term 17 plan, which calls for net sales to increase (from the 2016 financial year) 25.8 per cent to 480.0 billion yen (£3.2 billion) by the 2020 financial year, and for operating income to rise 21.7 per cent to 60.0 billion yen (£397.9 million).
The fourth AC Milan video from Toyo Tire & Rubber is now available. Titled ‘AC Milan in Japanimation’, the short video was created with the help of Yoichi Takahashi, creator of the ‘Captain Tsubasa’ manga football cartoon.
A total of around 35 billion yen (£234.2 million) will be invested in increasing production capacity at Toyo Tire & Rubber tyre plants in Malaysia and the USA.
Towards the end of this month, Toyo Tire & Rubber will move into a new headquarters building. The Japanese manufacturer will relocate some ten miles, from Nishi-ku, Osaka to Itami, Hyogo. The move will take place on Sunday 28 May and see Toyo housed in a new six-storey building next to the company’s Tire Technical Center. Operations at the new headquarters will begin the next day.
Toyo Tire & Rubber has reported a year-on-year decline in net sales, operating income and ordinary income for the 2016, and remained in the red for another year. Even though the company projected in November 2016 the expectation of profit of 12 billion yen, issues with certain non-tyre products led to an extraordinary loss recorded in the closing of accounts for the year, turning the projected profit into a loss of 12.26 billion yen (£86.1 million).
Throughout the course of this year, Toyo Tire & Rubber’s manufacturing operation in North America will expand its research and development capabilities in order to expedite the development of both original equipment and replacement market tyres. The company has not disclosed the level of investment being made in the Toyo Tire North America Manufacturing facility, however it will result in a 50 per cent increase in the size of the research and development team.
Six months after Katsumi Komaguchi became chairman and representative director of Toyo Tire & Rubber in December 2015, the Japanese tyre manufacturer has announced his resignation of both roles. In an extremely short and perfunctory statement, Toyo wrote that his resignation is effective immediately (from 27 May 2016) and is described as a “personal matter”.
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