Business Jun. 21, 2008 - 04:24AM JST ( 0 )

TOKYO —

Bridgestone Corp said Friday it will launch a new retail network for retread tires in Japan to boost its tire recycling business. The new Bandag chain of shops will employ the retreading technology of Bridgestone Bandag Tire Solutions, a U.S. unit that the company acquired last year, to produce about 10,000 retread tires at each shop annually.

Retreading is a tire recycling process to replace worn treads with new ones and is widely used for the tires of trucks, buses, aircraft and construction vehicles. The leading Japanese tire maker plans to open the first Bandag shop by the end of this year and to increase the number to 20 across Japan over three to four years. It will invest about 100 million yen in each shop.

Recycled tires sold at the shop will cost 20-30% less than new ones.

JCN