Bridgestone will exhibit a concept tyre of “100% sustainable materials” at the 2012 Paris Motor Show as part of a new initiative to encourage sustainability.

Bridgestone Corporation, the world’s largest tyre manufacturer, is diversifying the regions where it produces natural rubber and also expanding the range of reinforced plant fibers it uses. Additionally, fossil resource based components such as synthetic rubber, carbon black and rubber compounding agents in the tyre were synthesized from biomass.
As a next step in the process for productivity improvement, Bridgestone will initiate the technologies to begin mass production of these sustainable, quality tyres. Their target – that sustainable material tyres should be commercially available from 2050.

In addition, Bridgestone Europe have also announced it will introduce an “AA”-rated tyre on 1st October 2012, the Ecopia  EP001S – the industry’s first tyre to be awarded two A grades in both fuel efficiency and wet grip in the new EU tyre labelling system, both in Japan and Europe.

The new EU tyre labelling initiative – to be launched November 1st  this year - aims to allow drivers to make more informed decisions when purchasing tyres based on fuel efficiency and reduce emissions across the products lifetime cycle.