Persistent increases in the costs of raw material and transportation have caused Yokohama Tire Corp., Fullerton, Calif., to adjust prices to coincide with market changes, effective May 1.

"We are doing our best to limit these price increases, but raw material, manufacturing and transportation costs continue to escalate," said Dan King, director of Sales, Consumer Products for Yokohama Tire Corp. "The increase of up to 7 percent in the prices for consumer tires is necessary to offset those costs." In-line adjustments, which will be announced at a later date, are also slated.
Yokohama's Off-The-Road (OTR) division will be implementing a price increase as well. "There will be a 3 to 5 percent increase on select off-the-road tires," said Gary Nash, Yokohama director of OTR tire sales. "Affected will be all large bias (OTL), large radial (ORL) and large bias (OTX) tire sizes. "
"We are seeing steady rises in costs," said Jim MacMaster, Yokohama executive vice president, Business Division, "but Yokohama is committed to integrating operational efficiencies and technology to bring the best products to the market at competitive prices."