Happy birthday, Falken. Four decades after the first Falken tyre, the FK06C, arrived in 1983, Falken Tyre Europe has celebrated the brand’s 40th and taken the opportunity to look back on the Falken journey.
“The Falken brand was born with a specific target – to be the high-performance line for our parent company, SRI (Sumitomo Rubber Industries), delivering high quality and value to customers around the world,” says Markus Bögner, managing director and president of Falken Tyre Europe. “Even after 40 years of exciting developments in tyre technology, automotive growth and innovation, our principles of high performance, great value, and exceptional quality apply unreservedly across all our premium products.”
From racetrack to road
One of the highlights from Falken’s 40-year history is the creation of the motorsport division in 1985, whose philosophy of ‘from the racetrack to the road’ remains its mantra to this day. In 1988 Falken introduced its teal and blue livery, a colour scheme instantly recognisable amongst motorsport fans today. Falken’s reputation as a manufacturer of high-performance products was given a boost with its first championship win at the Mirage Cup International series in Japan that same year. Since then, successes on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife – including a podium finish at the 24-hour race in 2015 – have seen Falken establish itself on the competitive stage.
Off the racetrack, Falken Tyre Europe has cooperated with Liverpool FC and other major European sporting outfits, including the Bundesliga Supercup, World Handball Championships, ski teams, the Red Bull Air Race and The Nines – with Falken’s brand recognition growing in tandem.
Growing OEM business
Falken tyres equip more and more new vehicle models. The first car in Europe to wear Falken tyres as original equipment was the VW Up! in 2012, which came factory fitted with Falken Sincera SN831A tyres in size 165/70R14 81T. Further VW approvals followed, complemented by original equipment deals with other brands across the Volkswagen Group as well as manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz and Nissan.
Falken FK06C arrived on the market in 1983 (Image: Falken Tyre Europe)
