Bridgestone Announces Future Sustainable Tire Technologies.

Tokyo, May 23, 2012 - (JCN) - Bridgestone announced the developmentof new tire technologies that will contribute to the realization of a sustainable society. These technologies, announced at the World Rubber Summit 2012 in Singapore by Bridgestone Chairman of the Board Shoshi Arakawa, are aimed at developing world-class tiresmade from 100% sustainable materials.

As the world's largest tire and rubber manufacturer, the Bridgestone Group realizes that it has the potential to significantly lessen it impact on the environment. At the same time, the Group has defined its role as responding to the needs of customers around the world by reliably providing high-quality products that are technologically- advanced.

Bridgestone has established long-term environmental goals to guide its pursuit of a sustainable society. The Group has placed a high importance on promoting the usage of 100% sustainablematerials. To achieve this goal, Bridgestone will need fully leverage its technical capabilities and diversify and expand the range of renewable resources it uses in the production of tires and other rubber products. To accomplish this, the Group isdiversifying the regions in which it produces natural rubber and expanding the range of reinforced plant fibers it uses.

Furthermore, in order to replace fossil resources with renewable materials, the Group is working to develop synthetic rubber, carbon black, and rubber compounding agents that can be created from biomass materials. Looking forward to 2050, the Group will continue to advance the development of these technologies and will report on the progress of these initiatives as appropriate.

The Bridgestone Group is developing a number of technologies that can be applied throughout the value chain, from raw materials to finished products. One goal of these initiatives is to achieve the usage of 100% sustainable materials by leveraging 3R technologies (reduce, reuse, and recycle) that diversify resources used and utilize renewable resources as well asretread technologies.

In addition, the Group is pursuing the development of future tire technologies, such as those that reduce CO2 emissions through improved fuel efficiency. By creating ideal tires using these technologies, the Bridgestone Groupwill contribute to the realization of a sustainable society.

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