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The Yokohama Rubber Company, Limited (横浜ゴム株式会社 Yokohama Gomu Kabushiki-gaisha) is a tire company based in Tokyo, Japan. The company founded and started in 1917 in a joint venture between Yokohama Cable Manufacturing and B.F. Goodrich. In 1969 the company expanded to the United States as Yokohama Tire Corporation. The Aspec A300 was the driving force behind its tremendous rise. Branding, especially in Japan, will often use "ADVAN" instead of Yokohama. ADVAN wheels and tires have a strong presence in the after-market scene worldwide.
Company Origins
Formed in 1917, one of a number of Japanese industrial companies that emerged as a result of the opening of Japan to the outside world in the late 19th century, Yokohama Rubber developed during the 1920s by finding openings for innovation in Japan's growing industrial infrastructure. The company's most successful product during this period, providing the main basis for its growth, was the cord tire, which it began marketing in 1921. Until then, tires used in Japan were usually made of fabric, primarily canvas. Yokohama's Hamatown Cord, the first cord tire sold in Japan, was three times more durable than fabric tires and soon became popular on Japan's roads. At this time the company also developed products in the area of industrial systems, using rubber to improve the efficiency of transmission belts used in spinning and other industries. In 1921 the company began marketing rubber cut-edged transmission belts, which soon replaced leather transmission belts in a number of industries, and continued to improve on belt technology in 1929 when it produced Japan's first V-type belt which offered improved flexibility and transmission.
These early moves provided the basis for expansion in the 1930s, when accelerating economic activity in Japan created strong demand for rubber products both for vehicles and industrial applications. Yokohama developed balloon tires, tires designed specifically to prevent heat problems, giant tires for trucks, Y-shaped tread tires and, following a fashion started in the United States, tires with colored sidewalls. In 1930 the company developed a soft rubber lining designed for the chemical industry, to protect metals against corrosion and leaking, and also produced a hard rubber bearing to protect ships' propeller shafts. A crucial step in the company's growth occurred in 1935, when it began supplying tires to the major Japanese car producers, Nissan and Toyota, turning Yokohama Rubber into one of Japan's key rubber companies. Its growing reputation prompted the Department of the Imperial Household to ask the company to develop a set of tires for the Japanese Emperor's car, a contract that involved a year and a half of research and development and resulted in the production of 24 tires. The company stepped into the international market in 1934 when it patented, in Japan and the United States, a bandless hose for use in loading oil, followed in 1936 by Japan's first domestically produced hydraulic brake hose for cars. In 1939, the company made its strongest move to date in the growing synthetic rubber industry by developing its first synthetic rubber material.
Sponsorship
In the United States, Yokohama Tire Corporation participates in The American Le Mans Series ALMS and Red Line Time Attack.
Yokohama is the official tire supplier of the World Touring Car Championship.
Yokohama has been the official tire supplier of the Macau Grand Prix Formula 3 Intercontinental Cup race since 1983.
Yokohama Tire sponsors the NBA teams the Boston Celtics and the San Antonio Spurs.
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