2010 Los Angeles Auto Show: Yokohama to Display New Version Of Its Sustainable Living Wall

FULLERTON, Nov. 17, 2010: Yokohama Tire Corporation introduced a new type of display at the 2009 LA Auto Show: a natural, biodegradable “living wall.” The exhibit, which featured a 120-foot decorative wall of vegetation, was a huge hit and won an award from Exhibitor magazine.

Yokohama is once again going green at the LA Auto Show (November 19-28) with a new version of the living wall. This time it will be made up of 16,000 individual plants with the message, “Technology Drives Better Tires,” written into it using the varied plant species. The 2010 LA Auto Show living wall will be eight-foot tall by 115 feet long, comprised of five different types of plants including succulents and sempervivums.

The living wall’s “Vertical Exhibit Garden” technology, created by NatureXhibits in Laguna Beach, California, allows exhibitors at trade and consumer shows to use living plant materials instead of printed products. The exhibits leave virtually zero waste.

“The living wall embodies Yokohama’s environmental spirit,” said Takao Oishi, Yokohama president and CEO. “We are always looking for ways to reduce waste and help the environment and the living wall provides us a perfect opportunity. It is a fresh, natural and visually dynamic way to have a display.”

Included in the display will be Yokohama’s eco-friendly orange oil-infused passenger car tires (the dB Super E-spec™), which are 80 percent petroleum free. Also on exhibit will be a Porsche 911 GT3 race car featuring Yokohama’s ADVAN® ENV-R2™ racing tire, which also employs the company’s orange oil technology and cuts petroleum use by 20 percent. The ENV-R2 is the official spec tire of the Patrón GT3 Challenge by Yokohama and the ALMS GT3 Challenge (GTC) Class races.

The Yokohama-sponsored electric vehicle that broke the class record in the 2010 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb will also be in the display.

Yokohama has utilized different versions of the biodegradable display at other 2010 events, including the Mid-America Trucking Show and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

“This will be the fourth time we’ve provided Yokohama with a display using lush, oxygen-producing plants,” said Scott Hutcheon, president of NatureXhibits (www.naturexhibits.com). “With the award from Exhibitor magazine, I’d say the merits of the living wall have been positively reinforced. It’s a perfect way to attract a crowd with something that looks spectacular, is living, recyclable and leaves almost no waste.”