Tire sales made up the bulk of Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd.'s (SRI) global revenue during the second quarter of 2026.

SRI's total sales increased 8% on a year-over-year basis to $3.9 billion, with its tire business unit revenue totaling around $3.3 billion.

The company achieved a record high in sales during the second quarter, but its year-over-year tire volume remained flat.

In North America

In its recently published second quarter financial statement, SRI highlighted the popularity of its Falken WildPeak light truck tire, reporting that sales of that product "remains above industry levels."

The company's Dunlop brand "has accelerated the growth of (its) whole business in North America," according to SRI officials.

During the second half of 2026, SRI's North American subsidiary, Dunlop Tires North America (DTNA), will expand its size offerings, going from 44 sizes to 80 sizes, while also expanding the WildPeak's size range.

A second Dunlop tire, the Grandtrek HLX, will launch by the end of 2026.

In a recent interview with MTD, Darren Thomas, DTNA's president and CEO, said the Falken brand remains "the main driver of our business and we’re not losing sight of that."

Building out the Dunlop program in North America is "an investment in our business for the long-term," he added.

The Dunlop line will be "a full suite of products. We don’t expect to launch the Dunlop brand and just assume dealers are going to come rushing to the table to buy them simply because of the name on the tire. The products have to stand on their own. They have to compete in their segment. They have to make sense for retailers in terms of margin. They have to make sense for distributors in terms of wholesale margins."

Falken in the future

Thomas said DTNA is excited about "the amount of freedom we’re going to have to be able to expand the Falken brand in terms of other channels, categories and price points, so that Falken can be used to serve not only the upper- or mid-tier-two positions with our passenger tire lines and our tier-one position with our light truck (line), but we’re also able to expand Falken into some fighter lines to deal with tier-three/tier-four-level prices.

"That’s something we would not have had the ability to do had we not made the Dunlop purchase.

"Our overall suite of products is going to substantially improve," he told MTD. "So long-term, this is nothing but a net-plus for Falken as far as positioning, product planning and further investments. We’ll probably have double the amount of Falken products at double the amount of price points. And we have an innovative Dunlop legacy brand that we can continue to allow to mature."