The company's involvement in motorsports — the company terms it powersports to include bicycle racing — is a way to show off the quality of the tire against proven competition.
"We race where we race specifically because we want to have DOT (certified) tires," Brandon Stotsenburg, vice president, automotive division at American Kenda Rubber Industrial Co. Ltd., said.
"We could produce race tires for Baja and light truck or in other areas, … but what we want to do when we race is race with the same tires you all sell," Mr. Stotsenburg told tire dealers and wholesalers during the Kenda Light Truck Boot Camp event in Phoenix, held Sept. 27- Oct. 1.
"We know we can make really good products with premium performance, but how do we show that within the marketplace?" Mr. Stotsenburg asked. "The best way to do it is to take the same tires, the DOT tires that people are using, and race those.
"So we created the tagline Podium2Pavement."
The company showed off its off-road brands during the event — including the Klever A/T2 (all terrain), R/T (rugged terrain) and M/T (mud terrain) — demonstrating their ability to perform with Tier 1 brands in a number of off-road situations. The Klever line also includes the Klever XT UTV tire for all- and ultra-terrain vehicles.
The Kenda team demonstrated how the company's tires perform well in extreme situations — rutted in and escaping sand, loose soil, gravel, dirt and mud, versus other leading brands.