LAS VEGAS — Yokohama Tire Corp. swept the "Best New Tire" category of the Specialty Equipment Market Association New Products Awards, taking first and both runner-up awards for products from its Advan and Geolandar tire lines.
SEMA named the Geolandar X-AT extreme all-terrain tire best new tire, while the ultra-high-performance Advan Apex and the luxury SUV and crossover tire Geolandar X-CV earned runner-up recognition.
Andrew Briggs, Yokohama's vice president of marketing and product management, said winning the new product award is a "major achievement, but sweeping the category is unprecedented and a testament to the strides we've made in terms of our new products.
Yokohama — which returned this year to the SEMA Show as an exhibitor after a seven-year hiatus — has launched nine consumer tires this year, including the X-AT, Apex and X-CV.
The competition recognizes outstanding achievements in the development of products being introduced to the automotive specialty equipment market at the SEMA Show.
In the wheel and related products category, Topline Products' VR16 – Raid wheel was judged the best new product, with the Wheel Group/Wheel-1 claiming the runner-up spots with its Cali Offroad Gemini Polished/Milled and Mayhem Wheels Voyager dark bronze wheels
In addition, LiftWithTRAC.com was a winner in the Tools & Equipment category for its TRAC Tire Rotation Assistance Cart.
And Tire Stickers L.L.C. earned a runner-up nod in the Performance-Street Product category for its Cerebrum Smart Tire Sensor, a sensor that mounts directly to the tire innerliner and provides advanced tire pressure and temperature data to the vehicle as well as tread depth, alignment and performance data to the operator through a mobile application.