Falken Tire is a brand of passenger car, light truck, and medium truck tires owned by the Japanese company Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI). It was launched in its native country of Japan in 1983, and was introduced to the North American market two years later and in Europe in 1988. Falken has now become a stand-alone brand that focuses on UHP (Ultra High Performance) products while utilizing professional motorsports to further develop and improve products for worldwide distribution.
Sumitomo Rubber North America, Inc., formerly known as Falken Tire Corporation, is the corporate headquarters in Rancho Cucamonga, California, with a West Coast distribution center in Ontario, California. Additional Falken Tire distribution locations include warehouses in Illinois, Florida, New Jersey, and Texas.
In June 2015, Sumitomo and Goodyear announced that they would dissolve their worldwide partnership. As part of the deal, Sumitomo bought Goodyear Dunlop Tires North America, which included a manufacturing plant in Tonawanda, near Buffalo, New York. The plant, rebranded as Sumitomo Rubber USA, began to produce Falken Tire-branded tires in January 2016.
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History
Timeline
- 1983: The Falken brand is created as a high performance brand of OHTSU Rubber & Tire in Japan
- 1985: Started Falken Motorsports & U.S. Distribution
- 1988: Team Falken wins the Mirage Cup International series
- 1988: Falken introduces the Sincera Tire
- 1988: Falken Tyre Europe GmbH is founded in Offenbach am Main, Germany.
- 1990: The N1 6hour Endurance Sugu 400 km GT-R R32 class winner
- 1991: Falken supports the BNR32 that dominated the Super N1 Taikyu Series in Japan
- 1991: Falken enters the Rallye de Portugal
- 1991: Team Falken participated in the Kenya Endurance rally
- 1991: Opened U.S. Headquarters in Rancho Cucamonga, U.S.
- 1993: Sponsors teams for the Paris to Dakar Rally Championships
- 1996: The first Ziex branded tire is launched: Ziex ZE502
- 1998: Began a successful campaign with Mine's Falken BNR33 which won the 98'-00' Class 1 Series Championship
- 1999: Team Falken began competing in the ADAC 24th Rennen Nurburgring
- 2000: Falken Tire participates in Rally Australia 2000
- 2001: AZENIS Tire line is launched with AZENIS ST115 and AZENIS RT215
- 2001: Team Falken wins Super Endurance Class 1 Series Championship
- 2001: Falken sponsors the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb
- 2003: Falken supports the first U.S. Drift Showoff in Irwindale, Ca
- 2003: Falken sponsors the drivers at the first D1 Grand Prix Pro Drift Competition in the U.S.
- 2005: Falken team driver Calvin Wan takes 1st place in an Infinity G35 at the Formula Drift sanctioned event.
- 2006: A Consumer Reports Top Pick: Falken ZE912
- 2007: Falken moves into corporate office in Fontana, CA
- 2010: Falken wins first Formula Drift Championship, Vaughn Gittin, Jr.
- 2010: Falken introduces the Wildpeak A/T Tire to reinvigorate the all-performance SUV and Light Truck segments.
- 2011: Falken wins another back-to-back Formula Drift Championship with Daijiro Yoshihara.
- 2011: 2 ALMS GT Class wins at Mid-Ohio & Baltimore
- 2012: Team Falken takes another ALMS win at Baltimore Grand Prix
- 2012: New Falken Tire headquarters located in Rancho Cucamonga, CA.
- 2012: Falken / Savvy Off Road wins the King of the Hammers Every Man Challenge.
- 2013: Falken wins again at the King of the Hammers Every Man Challenge
- 2013: Team Falken takes first place in GT at ALMS Petit Le Mans
- 2015: Falken becomes the Official Tire of Major League Baseball
- 2016: The Sumitomo Rubber USA factory in Tonawanda began to produce Falken Tire-branded tires.
- 2017: Falken became a sponsor of English Premier League team Liverpool F.C..
Motorsports
Falken Tire Corporation has participated in many motorsport activities, including the Tudor United Sports Car Championship IMSA, the former American Le Mans Series ALMS, British Drift Championship, Irish Drift Championship, Drift Allstars European Series with driver James Deane, Formula Drift Series Formula D, ADAC 24 Hours of Nürburgring and International Drift Series. Drivers for the IMSA GT Class were Wolf Henzler and Bryan Sellers, in which they co-piloted a Porsche 911 RSR. Current sponsored drivers for Formula Drift competition are Daijiro Yoshihara, Justin Pawlak, and Aurimas "Odi" Bakchis. Current drivers for British Drift Championship competition are Matt Carter, Paul Cheshire and Alan Green. Current 2010 drivers for International Drift Series are Remmo Niezen, Lars Verbraeken and Lennard Wanders.
Falken has sponsored racing series such as ALMS and domestic championships like Super Taikyu series, 24 Hours Nürburgring and drifting series such as Formula D and D1 Grand Prix. Falken was previously the title sponsor of the British Drift Championship until 2010 when Maxxis Tyres became the title sponsor.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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