Automotive Performance Brands - Yokohama Tire Corporation Sponsoring the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance For 7th Consecutive Year

Tire maker to go ‘green’ and feature a sustainable ‘living wall’ display at Aug. 21 classic car celebration

FULLERTON, Aug. 18, 2011: For the seventh consecutive year, Yokohama Tire Corporation is a major sponsor of the annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Yokohama is dubbed “the official tire” of the prestigious mid-summer classic car showcase, which is scheduled for Sunday, August 21 along the Pebble Beach Golf Links® in central California.

“The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is known globally as a celebration of the automobile,” said Yasushi Tanaka, Yokohama president and CEO. “Every August, it attracts some of the most attractive, historic and valuable cars, as well as top automotive industry executives, national and international media and enthusiasts from around the world. The Pebble Beach Concours offers Yokohama the perfect platform to communicate our strategic corporate messaging.”

Yokohama’s sponsorship agreement includes a large display at the first tee – near one of the highly-trafficked main entrances – name and logo placement on every ticket and lanyard worn by spectators and participants, co-hosting privileges and VIP access to the exclusive Stillwater Bar & Grill, ad placement in the event program and participation in a number of Concours-related events and activities.

For the second straight year, Yokohama’s Pebble Beach Concours exhibit will feature a “living wall,” a natural, biodegradable 30-foot-long by eight-foot-tall display that features a decorative wall of vegetation that leaves virtually zero waste.

Yokohama’s living wall will use over 4,000 plants consisting of Sedum “Sea Urchin” and Sedum “Red Carpet,” and display alongside it the company’s new “BluEarth®” global environmental initiative logo. All the plants will be re-purposed after the Concours.

Surrounding the display will be a selection of tires featuring Yokohama’s eco-friendly orange oil technology, including the new BluEarth-1™ passenger car tire (available in the U.S. in 2012), the ADVAN® ENV-R2™ racing tire, and the company’s original orange oil-infused, dB Super E-spec™ tire. Yokohama will also feature a concept Scion F-RS car with BluEarth orange oil ADVAN Neova® concept tires.