As a seasoned exhibitor at the Geneva Motor Show, Yokohama were using this year’s event to explain their visionary mid-term strategy which is known as ‘Grand Design 2020’ and consists of three main areas. SA Treads spoke with David Oliva – Manager of the PCR Product Planning and Marketing Department who explained that these objectives were to become a global tire supplier for premium performance cars, to be known as a leading provider in the winter performance sector and to introduce their relatively new ‘Hobby tire” range.
On the booth were a number of new tire patterns making their debut in Europe from Yokohama’s legendary ADVAN label including several patterns from the brand’s increasing winter tire selection such as the BluEarth-4S AW21 all season tyre for the European passenger car market. Also being launched was the iceGuardiG60 a PCR studless pattern that offers the highest performance levels of any studless tire ever produced by Yokohama whilst the all-new BluEarth Winter V905 is an exceptionally fuel efficient winter pattern for PCR’s and SUV’s.
Yokohama also introduced the market to its new ‘Hobby Tire’ range which concentrates on special patterns for sports performance driving enthusiasts including race, rally, off-road and modern classic vehicles .David adds, “We are presenting the AdvanA052 a street legal track days tire which has an expansive size option from 14 up to 20 inches and a further new arrival is the Advan Neova AD08RS which meet s the current European tire technical regulations with ultra superior grip-power and even greater speed control and cornering performance through an innovative fine tuned compound.”
When it comes to extreme mud terrain tires for SUV’s and 4×4’s Yokohama have been busy with a new pattern design – the tough and rugged Geolander X-MT which David points out has outstanding off-road traction thanks to a seriously aggressive tread pattern and sidewall design. David says, “We are also introducing the all-new Geolander X-CV, an ultra high performance SUV tire which guarantees further improved wet traction along with outstanding mileage performance, superior low levels of road noise and drive comfort.. Whilst for the premium Crossover SUV sector the Geolander G057 incorporates a special asymmetric tread pattern with four wide grooves for improved traction and wet braking performance. At present most of our new tires are primarily for the European market sector but in line with Yokohama’s ambition to graduate to being a truly global brand. All our tire designs are schedule for worldwide release in the long term future.”
