Atturo Tires and TMV Group have won three international awards at the 2025 Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) for their ‘Atturo Andy' campaign.

The campaign featured a fictional tyre salesman and was launched nationally across digital channels. It went on to win top honours in three major categories: Best Automotive Online Video Campaign, Best B2B Online Video Campaign and Best Mobile Online Video Campaign. The campaign – with its focus on driving brand recognition through humour, humanity and a distinct visual style – resulted in 140 percent increase in web traffic, 100 percent growth in ‘Where to Buy’ dealer inquiries and +35 percent lift in unit sales, according to Atturo.

Michael Mathis, President, Atturo Tires, said, “These awards recognise what we already knew: Atturo Andy isn’t just a character – he’s a force. We set out to create something that stood apart from industry clichés, and thanks to TMV Group’s creativity and deep category insight, we delivered work that was not only different but effective.”

Joe Morden, Managing Partner at TMV Group, said, “Creative only works when it’s backed by brave clients. Atturo trusted us to go big – to build something that was smart, strategic and completely unexpected. That trust turned into three international awards.”

NEXEN TIRE, the global tyre manufacturer, has reported exceptional financial performance for the first quarter of 2025, with revenues climbing to KRW 771.2 billion and operating profit reaching KRW 40.7 billion. The results represent a 13.7 percent year-on-year increase, setting a new quarterly record for the company and surpassing market expectations.

The South Korean tyre maker's strong showing comes despite ongoing industry challenges, with the company leveraging expanded production capacity and a focus on premium products to drive growth. The Czech plant's phase 2 expansion has significantly boosted output volumes, while increasing demand for larger 18-inch and above tyres has enhanced profit margins.

European operations emerged as the standout performer, generating KRW 316.5 billion in revenue—approximately 41 percent of NEXEN's global sales. The region has benefited from stable replacement tyre demand since late last year, with particular strength in seasonal products including winter and all-weather offerings.

"Despite continued exchange rate swings and uncertainties surrounding tariff policies, our long-term efforts in capacity expansion and brand building are now bearing fruit, allowing us to continue growing," said Travis Kang, Global CEO of NEXEN TIRE.

NEXEN's strategic supply of original equipment tyres to premium European automakers since 2016 has enhanced brand recognition, driving subsequent replacement tyre sales. Meanwhile, normalising freight rates have returned to comparable levels with the same quarter last year, helping reduce the company's freight-to-sales ratio despite persistently high raw material costs.

Looking ahead, the company plans to implement region-specific strategies to navigate economic volatility. In Europe, growth will centre around increased volume and expanded capacity, while the US operation will adopt flexible approaches to counter tariff measures. The Asia-Pacific region, particularly Japan and Australia, will see customer diversification efforts and enhanced local distribution.

NEXEN is also advancing a unified product strategy for both electric and conventional internal combustion vehicles, utilising artificial intelligence and virtual reality in its development processes. Recent in-house testing has validated the superior performance of its tyres across critical metrics including braking, noise reduction and ride comfort.

Kang added, "We will continue to strengthen our worldwide competitiveness by developing customer-focused product strategies and region-specific techniques."

CEAT, the RPG Group's flagship tyre manufacturer, reported a 14.3 percent year-on-year increase in consolidated revenue to INR 34.21 billion for the fourth quarter ended 31 March  2025. The company recorded a net profit of INR 987 million with an EBITDA margin of 11.5 percent.

On a standalone basis, the company's revenue stood at INR 34.14 billion, up 14.6 percent year-on-year, with an EBITDA margin of 11.6 percent and net profit of INR 1.004 billion.

"It was a very satisfying top line performance for the quarter and overall, for the year as we managed to deliver a double-digit growth across all key categories and business verticals. We crossed an important milestone of crossing INR 130 billion of revenue during the year," said Arnab Banerjee, MD & CEO of CEAT . "The Replacement segment delivered strong growth consistently during the year and OEM business delivered strong performance in Q4. We managed to deliver improvement in margins in Q4 versus Q3. We look forward to integrating the CAMSO compact construction business with CEAT in the current year."

The company's operating margins improved by over 120 basis points in the fourth quarter, largely driven by favorable revenue mix and cost control measures.

"Our operating margins improved in Q4 by over 120 bps, largely driven by favourable revenue mix and result of strong cost controls across the value chain," said Kumar Subbiah, CFO of CEAT Limited. "We incurred capex of INR 9.46 billion during the year largely in capacity additions that would prepare us well to deliver our growth plans in FY 26. During the quarter, we incurred INR 370 million towards voluntary separation of employees in one of our high-cost factories as part of our continuous effort to keep our manufacturing units cost competitive."

Bridgestone is planning to cut jobs at two factories in northern Spain in response to a negative shift in the European market and the growth of non-European goods.

According to a Reuters report quoting local union UGT, the business intends to lay off 546 workers at two plants in Cantabria and the Basque Country in northern Spain that produce tyres for tractors, other farm vehicles, buses and trucks. The report adds that UGT and other unions have declared their intention to call for a strike at the two facilities, but they have not given any specifics.

The company's local unit, Bridgestone Hispania, employs 2,800 people at the moment, according to UGT. Bridgestone stated that it has to modify its production capacity in light of the current market conditions, which are marked by inflation, uncertainty and regulatory changes, says the report.

The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. has expanded its FLAME GUARD series of flame-retardant conveyor belts with the launch of the FLAME GUARD ECO, which offers improved energy-saving performance. This is in line with the company’s medium-term management plan for fiscal years 2024–2026 –Yokohama Transformation 2026 (YX2026) – and aims to solidify its leading share in Japan’s conveyor belt market.

FLAME GUARD ECO is aimed at coal transport lines at ports and thermal power plants, which need conveyor belts that are flame-retardant for fire safety. To enhance energy-saving efficiency, Yokohama Rubber created a new rubber compound utilising technology acquired during the development of its ECOTEX conveyor belts, which have reached world-class power-saving performance. As the belt moves over the rollers, this lessens rubber deformation, which is a component in energy loss. Power usage and running resistance are thereby decreased. FLAME GUARD ECO reduces energy expenses and its environmental effect by lowering carbon dioxide emissions while simultaneously improving operational safety by combining flame resistance and energy economy.

With its self-extinguishing safety feature, the FLAME GUARD series provides flame retardancy with improved wear resistance, resistance to heavy oils and resistance to medium and high temperatures, making the belts suitable for a variety of operating requirements. The FLAME GUARD ECO variant also reduces resistance during roller passing for increased efficiency.