Bridgestone introduced plans to debut Firestone Firehawk race tires made with guayule natural rubber grown and extracted at the company’s guayule R&D facilities in Arizona. Bridgestone says the guayule race tire, featuring a new green sidewall, will be introduced during the Indy 500 Pit Stop Challenge.
Bridgestone says it aims to commercialize the use of sustainable guayule natural rubber in tires by 2030.
Bridgestone launched its guayule research initiative in 2012, when it broke ground on a guayule processing and research center in Mesa, Arizona. Today, the company says it operates the research center in Mesa, as well as a 281-acre guayule farm in Eloy, Arizona. Bridgestone says it has invested more than $100 million in its efforts to commercialize guayule.
Guayule is part of the Bridgestone plan to achieve carbon neutrality and make tires from 100% renewable materials by 2050, according to the company. It is actively researching a range of solutions to support the recycling of materials from end-of-life tires and promote the replacement of non-renewable materials such as oil, silica and virgin carbon black in new tires.
