Sumitomo to realign business units in North America
Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (SRI) marked its presence further in the North American tyre industry.
The firm is continuously targeting the markets of North America by establishing with local manufacturing units, testing facilities and research & development capabilities ever since the dissolution of the 16-year global alliance earlier this year with Goodyear.
To strengthen its presence in the country, the Tokyo based company, declared to make certain modifications in its North American business units in approaching years. Also, the company has renamed its Rancho Cucamonga, California based marketing & distribution arm from Falken Tire Corp. to Sumitomo Rubber North America Inc. (SRNA), which will come into effect from 1st Jan 2016.
Moreover, SRI’s previously invested subsidiary - Goodyear Dunlop Tire North America Ltd., name would be altered by the end of March 2016 to Sumitomo Rubber USA L.L.C. (SRUSA). The company announced that the responsibility of selling Dunlop brand light vehicle tyres to the Japanese Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and also the sales of Dunlop motorcycle tyres in entire North America would be taken care by SRNA, instead of SRUSA.
As per the realigned corporate structure, SRNA would operate three discrete sales divisions:
- The responsibility for selling Dunlop motorcycle in the OEM and replacement market, would be of Dunlop Motorcycle Tire based in Tonawanda, New York.
- The responsibility for selling Falken, Ohtsu and other private branded products for light commercial vehicles in market, would be taken care by Falken Tire Corp.
- The responsibility for selling & distributing Dunlop brand light vehicle tyres for Japanese OEMs and Falken brand Original Equipment (OE) sales to all OE customers based in North America, would be of SRNA OE, located in Detroit.
The company stated that SRNA would also provide administrative and logistics support to all these three divisions along with selling & distribution of Dunlop, Falken & Ohtsu brand tyres all over Caribbean as well as Falken & Ohtsu in Mexico, too. All these responsibilities were earlier handled directly by the parent company, SRI Ltd.
According to “United States Tyre Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2020” recently published market research report by TechSci Research, the company’s realigning strategy would significantly boost the penetration of Sumitomo tyres in the United States and as well as in entire North America.