Bridgestone enters fuel-economy war with new Ecopia range for Europe

ERJ staff report (DS)

Brussels -- After years of poor results on fuel economy, Bridgestone has at last announced plans to launch a range of fuel-saving car tyres into the European market.

The company said it will from April 2009, gradually introduce a range of tyres under the Turanza ER300 Ecopia name to European customers. The company did not give any information on rolling resistance of the tyres, nor any timetable for the introduction of the range.

Bridgestone said it has developed a new compound, "based on nano properties control technology" which permits better rolling resistance and improved wet grip. It said the main benefits in the Ecopia range are achieved through new compounds.

The Turanza ER300 Ecopia range will be introduced to the market at the Geneva Auto Salon in March..

.Meanwhile in Japan, the Nikkei Simbun has awarded its 'product excellence' award to Bridgestone for the Ecopia EP100 product line. Bridgestone said this tyre available in the Japanese market offers rolling resistance of just 70 percent of the B'Style EX product line, which leads to an improvement of 4.2 percent in fuel economy on a vehicle fitted with four of the tyres. Under wet braking, the 195/65R15 91H Ecopia product performed marginally better than the reference tyre. achieving a stopping distance of 33.6 m from 80 kph compared with 33.9m for a B'style EX tyre.

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EP100 Press release from Bridgestone (Japanese language)