BRUSSELS—Bridgestone Corp. secured nearly 100 new original equipment fitments in 2019 across the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, the company disclosed recently.
Driven by the company's CASE (connected, autonomous, shared and electric) mobility projects, the new supply deals covered 50 different models from 14 manufacturers, Bridgestone said, without disclosing which models or manufacturers or its overall OE market share in the EMEA.
In addition, the company saw OE fitments for tires with rim diameters of 18 inches or greater grow by more than 10 percent, compared to 2018.
One of the key technological developments of 2019 was the introduction of Enliten, a lightweight tire technology that Bridgestone claims can reduce rolling resistance by 20 percent on average versus a standard premium summer touring tire.
The technology also cuts the tire weight by 10 percent, lowering the consumption of materials and subsequently reducing the tire's environmental footprint.
The first OE fitment with a tire using Enliten technology was on Volkswagen's all-electric ID.3 and the Audi RS Q3.