New Toyo tire built from the trail up

BIG BEAR, Calif. — The new Toyo Open Country R/T Trail was built from the trail up, utilizing insights learned from the overlanding community. The result is a stylish and aggressive light truck tire that looks as good sitting in the driveway as it performs on the trail.

"Obviously, we are a full line manufacturer, but Open Country is the heart of the brand," Tim Chaney, vice president of marketing at Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp., said.

Toyo refers to itself as an "enthusiast brand" to describe its outdoor-adventuring customers, but it also describes the team itself.

Demand for Toyo is strong thanks to grassroots efforts such as being involved in the overlanding community, smart marketing, a huge social media presence (the biggest of any tire maker), not to mention great engineering, he said.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Toyo's sales volume and market share in the all-terrain and mud-terrain segments have grown in the last three years, Chaney said.

In 2020, Toyo released the Open Country A/T III, which Chaney called "the most successful launch we've ever had — right in the teeth of the pandemic. It exceeded and surpassed all of our expectations."

The tire maker has expanded production capacity at its White, Ga., manufacturing plant and started production at a new plant in Serbia.

"Toyo Tires is doing well during the pandemic," Chaney said. "The demand is greater than ever, the sales are greater than ever, and it's a perfect time for us to introduce yet another Open Country product."

The Open Country R/T Trail is an on- and off-road rugged-terrain tire that delivers better off-road grip than a traditional all-terrain tire, most evident in sand, mud and deep snow. The tire officially hits the market Nov. 1.

The R/T Trail is the second tire to be designed by the U.S. research and development team (the first was the A/T III). The build was led by Mia Evans, who also was lead engineer for the A/T III.

The work of Evans and her team "resulted in a tire with exceptional ride quality but also superb handling," according to Todd Bergeson, senior manager, product planning and technical services, Toyo Tire USA.

The R/T Trail is an addition to the Open Country line, and Bergeson said while the company knew where it wanted to position the tire in the lineup, its planning was really a "blank slate."

The team met with customers and drove with them on trails to learn their views.

"We're part of this off-road community. These are our people," Bergeson said, adding that when they want to get some real-world testing and feedback, the overlanding community is only a phone call away.

"It's not only a ton of fun, but we have learned a lot from that," he said. "Then when we sit around after the trail run, we talk about … 'What did you think about that tire? Did it get you through the way you expected it?'

"We can take those (comments) back and apply them to the new design and development."

Bergeson said he also would bring 3-D printed tread design samples with him on the road to get customer feedback on the look.

"For us, design is so important, and we know with our customer base there's a high value placed on appearance. So, it doesn't just have to perform; it has to look the part," Bergeson said.

"We are highly focused on getting the right design. Our design is such that we appeal to the masses, but we don't offend anyone either. It's got to be that kind of fine balance, the right level of aggressiveness in appearance."

Customers for the R/T Trail are passionate about their vehicle, and Bergeson said if they are going to put the money into building up the truck, they will care a lot about the tires.

Toyo invited members of the media to Big Bear in late September to try the R/T Trail on the picturesque, above-the-clouds mountain trails.

The R/T Trail sits between A/T III and the R/T (introduced in 2014) in the Open Country lineup. The R/T Trail is a more aggressive tire than the A/T but offers a more quiet ride and better highway performance than the R/T.

"Advances were made in tread design for optimized on- and off-road durability, traction and stability, providing improvements in grip and performance in both wet and dry conditions," the company said.

The main attributes brought to this tire are its aggressive look, wet and dry traction, durability and coverage of load ranges.

The tire features staggered scalloped shoulder blocks and extra-thick sidewall lugs that dig into soft terrain and uneven surfaces. The shoulders are durable to handle low inflation pressures and contact when off-roading.

"The tire has to give confidence that it can go off road, it can do these trails, and be able to get home without any issue," Bergeson said.

"Confidence and driver fatigue are two things we were highly focused on when we develop a tire to make sure the customer has the best experience."

Other features focused on durability and off-road capabilities include wide circumferential grooves, lateral zig-zag grooves and stone ejectors, 4-way tapered notches and a rim protector. A heavy gauge sidewall also will help protect from cuts, impacts and punctures, Toyo said.

On the trail, this results in confident contact and quick front-to-back tire reaction.

"A really well-matched tire will be an extension of you, and you'll notice that when you're driving down the road," Bergeson said.

He added that the R/T Trail has "really good" sand traction. Wet traction, he said, was also important to the R/T Trail, because "you don't want to be the guy at the boat ramp just spinning tires."

The R/T Trail launches in the most popular sizes for light trucks and SUVs from makes including Ford, Jeep and Toyota. The line eventually will be expanded to 47 size and load combinations for 16- to 24-inch wheel diameters and up to a 38-inch overall diameter. Speed ratings will include Q, R, S and T; and the load range will include C, D, E and F.

The R/T Trail comes with a 45,000-mile treadwear warranty and the Toyo Tires No Regrets 45-Day/500-Mile Trial Offer.

Most of the line will be built at the Georgia plant, except for a few sizes that will be produced in Serbia.

Toyo is involved in a number of events to engage customers, including its Trailpass overlanding event held in Big Bear this year.

"Racing, Jeep Off-Road, tuner, you name it, we're expanding our footprint engaged with all kinds of enthusiasts of all sorts and trying to expand how we engage with outdoor lifestyle enthusiasts as well," Chaney said.

Toyo plans to expand both the number of events in which it participates and the geography where events are held.

"Next year will be even greater. We'll expand that footprint even more," Chaney said.

Toyo also announced it will have 28 custom vehicles on display at the Treadpass at the 2022 SEMA Show.

"We believe in SEMA, and I think over the years, we have created the Treadpass as a true destination for participants at SEMA," Chaney said. "Our staff has created a really good space, we have world-class debuts — builders selected us to show their new vehicles there."

Toyo has sponsorship, in some form, at more than 60 events. The biggest is with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC),where Toyo has been a sponsor since 2006.

"We're a major partner, and we have very strong exposure," Chaney said. The UFC audience is a "perfect alignment with their fans and audience and our brand and how we position ourselves, particularly with the Open Country products."

Toyo said it maintains a "strong, long running relationship," with driver and D.C. Shoes co-founder Ken Block, who recently entered a partnership with Audi.

Team Toyo Motorsports has had success. It competes in desert, short course and side-by-side racing.

"We have one of the strongest rosters for desert racing and short course racing — if not the strongest," Chaney said.

"These drivers not only race on our behalf to help us promote our product, but they help us test the product," he said. "That input gets sent back to Japan to make an even better product."

Toyo has built a huge following of millions on social media, he said.

"It's not because we paid for or buy our fans and followers; it's because of the content and understanding the audience," Chaney said, noting Toyo employs an in-house photographer/videographer, drone pilot and editor to create and curate content.

Toyo has two YouTube channels, Toyo Tires and Team Toyo USA. The Team Toyo USA channel features "grassroots content" from Toyo users, partners and collaborators.

"Our followers love our content. We don't shout out to them corporate content. We give them content we know they are going to like and will engage with," Chaney said.

Toyo leaned into that engagement in new advertising spots, which feature actual customers adventuring on trails.

"There's no actors in there. They're all friends and network community and real people who took their vehicles," Chaney said. "We just started filming."