For nearly 90 years, Bridgestone has provided premium products and services to the world’s leading Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). In 2019, Bridgestone remained the number one choice for BMW, Audi, SEAT and Toyota, while continuing to serve as primary supplier for manufacturers including Volkswagen, Skoda and Mercedes.
As the world’s largest tyre and rubber company and the industry’s leading investor in research and development, car manufacturers sought Bridgestone’s expertise and dedication on various partnerships throughout the year – from ground-breaking CASE (Connected, Autonomous, Shared and Electric) projects to the key performance benefits of new tyre technologies and solutions, such as the innovative Enliten technology. As a result of these strong partnerships, Bridgestone was successful in providing approximately 100 new original fitments in EMEA, spread across more than 50 different models from 14 manufacturers. In addition, the company saw fitments for tyres with a diameter of 18” or greater (HDR+) grow by over 10 percent from 2018.
Introducing Enliten
In 2019, Bridgestone pioneered a new lightweight tyre technology, Enliten, to help address global mobility challenges around sustainability.
Engineered with the environment front of mind, Enliten enables tyres to have a super low rolling resistance – a key factor in a vehicle’s fuel efficiency and battery use – while requiring less materials to be created[1] – reducing the tyre’s environmental footprint and also improving fuel efficiency or battery range. In 2019, Enliten was brought to the roads for the first time on Volkswagen’s new, all-electric ID.3 and the Audi RS Q3. 2020 will see Bridgestone work to bring Enliten’s benefits to even more models and manufacturers.
A record-breaking partnership
No matter how great the challenge, Bridgestone is committed to helping its OEM partners achieve their goals. This year was no different, with the company developing record-breaking tyres for the likes of Volkswagen and Renault.
Bridgestone and Volkswagen’s long-time partnership was put to the test on the racetrack in 2019. Custom-engineered Bridgestone Potenza tyres were specially developed for Volkswagen’s electric supercar, the ID.R. The tyres delivered the confidence and performance to help Volkswagen break the world famous Nürburgring-Nordschleife’s EV track record by 40.56 seconds.
Renault Mégane R.S. Trophy-R also broke an Nürburgring record on high performance Potenza S007 tyres, showcasing the prowess of Bridgestone tyres, and the company’s dedication to its partners.
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SOURCE: Bridgestone
