Bridgestone South Africa has become the first local manufacturer to produce 19-inch tyres, thanks to an investment in new technology at its Brits facility. The new tyres are being produced for the BMW X3.
“Bridgestone has a long relationship with BMW as an original equipment supplier and given that the BMW X3 is assembled in South Africa, it’s obviously a huge step forward for us to not have to import this size of tyre,” says Bridgestone South Africa.
Tyres play a huge role in ensuring that highly engineered automobiles perform as designed, and Bridgestone has been supplying tyres in 11 sizes from its Alenza 001 range for the new BMW X3 since 2017. Bridgestone’s engineers worked alongside BMW to develop a tyre that would allow the vehicle to perform optimally.
“The capacity to produce this specialist tyre here also signals our intention to ensure that Bridgestone South Africa continues to compete on the world market,” he says. “South African manufacturers are facing stiff competition from overseas imports, and we need to invest wisely in new equipment in order to carve out new niches for ourselves in both the domestic and global markets.
“This brings not only new equipment and capability into the local tyre manufacturing market, but it’s also part of our initiative to upskill our local workforce in order to equip it for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
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