SEAT chooses Bridgestone tyres to equip its new Minimó electric concept car…
With this collaboration, Bridgestone takes a further step on its journey to shape the future of mobility
Bridgestone, the world’s largest tyre and rubber company, has been chosen by SEAT as the preferred tyre partner to equip its new Minimó electric concept car. Currently presented by SEAT at the Geneva Motor Show, Minimó sits on specially designed tyres that apply Bridgestone’s renowned ologic technology. Anticipating the design lines of a tyre oriented towards micro-mobility and CASE (Connected Autonomous Share Electric) vehicles, the tyres were developed for SEAT at Bridgestone’s R&D Centre in Rome in record time.
The SEAT Minimó is a small two-passenger, all-electric vehicle equipped with 5G technology. The concept car comes with an innovative battery swap system – the battery can be swapped with a fresh pack in a matter of seconds – and offers a range of more than 100 km on a single charge. Minimó is engineered to adapt to the mobility platforms that will shape the future of city driving. The many challenges of urban mobility – increasingly stringent emission regulations; restricted access to certain urban areas; and heavily congested roads – are all addressed by the concept car.
Bridgestone, leader in mobility solutions
With this exciting collaboration addressing mobility’s most pressing challenges, Bridgestone says that it is moving further forward on its journey from a premium tyre producer into a preferred leader in mobility solutions.
As Mark Tejedor, Vice President Original Equipment Bridgestone EMEA explains, “New social, economic and technological megatrends are pushing the pace of change in our industry and the future of vehicles is connected, autonomous, shared and electric. At Bridgestone we are working to make the CASE concept a reality in cities and on roads, collaborating with models like the Minimó that SEAT now presents. We have in our team brilliant chemists and engineers and invested almost €800 million last year in R&D. As the digital revolution inspires new forms of mobility, we want to harness our expertise to the benefit of our customers to give them a real competitive advantage.”
A strong relationship
Bridgestone is SEAT’s number one tyre provider, with multiple models equipped with Bridgestone tyres as original equipment. The collaboration on the Minimó model reinforces this relationship.
“SEAT was looking for a reliable, flexible and innovative partner,” says Tejedor. “Bridgestone was selected as the exclusive tyre partner and as a result, our R&D Centre in Rome prepared in record time a concept tyre that met the demanding expectations of the SEAT designers”.
Tribute to the city of Barcelona
While displayed as a vision into the future of mobility, the prototype of Minimó presented for the first time at the Mobile World Congress was also a tribute to the event’s host city, Barcelona. The Bridgestone tyres fitted to the prototype car have a map of Barcelona’s Eixample district engraved on their sidewall. This gesture reflects the strong alliance between SEAT and Barcelona in terms of mobility, and Bridgestone’s ability to manufacture a tyre tailored to customer needs.
