SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Sumitomo Rubber North America Inc. (SRNA) is expanding its flagship Falken brand portfolio with more sizes and new product launches across several segments. Products to be rolled out include a "next level" ultra-high performance all-season, the final piece to the WildPeak light truck line, and an all-season drive tire for medium trucks.
Rick Brennan, SRNA vice president of marketing, said in his 56 years in the industry he's never seen as many changes as he is seeing right now. With Falken, he said the goal is to realign the product screen to capture more of the market.
Most of these new products will hit the market in the most popular sizes later this year with phased expansion of the new lines continuing through 2023, the company said.
Azenis FK460 UHP: SRNA believes the new Azenis FK460 UHP all season tire will raise Falken's profile in the UHP market.
"This is a huge leap for us in performance level of an ultra-high performance all season," Brennan said. He said it adds a level of performance above the Falken Ziex ZE960 all-season tire. The company targeted Tier 1 brands in terms of performance, and it found through internal benchmarking better dry, wet and snow stopping than those competitors.