America’s biggest tire manufacturer isn’t who you think

At the risk of stating the obvious, the tire is an extremely important part of a car.

For one thing, a car literally cannot go anywhere without them.

Certain types of cars also need specialist types of tires to perform properly.

But the world’s biggest tire manufacturer isn’t who you think – at all.

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Ever since the dawn of the car industry, tires have been an instrumental part of its success.

The very first tires were crafted as bands of leather, which were placed on wooden wheels for carts and wagons.

Interestingly, the first practical pneumatic tire was created in Belfast, Ireland.

Scottish-born veterinary surgeon John Boyd Dunlop created the modern tire to help his son, Johnnie.

This brilliant invention eventually led to the iconic Dunlop Tyres brand being founded in November 1888.

The Dunlop brand is now operated by Goodyear in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

An interesting question posed by many is who the actual largest tire manufacturer in the world.

Is it one of the big names, such as Michelin, Bridgestone or Continental?

Could it be Yokohama, Pirelli or even a brand like Falken?

In fact, it is none of these iconic names in the tire industry.

The real answer might come as a massive shock to you when you hear it.

And the single, sole, biggest tire manufacturer in the world is…Lego.

Yes, you read that right – the Danish toy maker is the biggest tire manufacturer in the world.

And it is not by some small distance, either – in fact, Lego makes around 100 million more tires than Michelin.

You might be sitting there scratching your head at how this is possible – but there’s a good explanation.

Today, Lego produces, on average, around 306 million rubber tires every year.

Each of these tires finds itself in one of Lego’s toy sets, from the VW bus to its F1/motorcycle models.

At this point, you might be wondering how many Lego tires it takes to match one normal-sized tire.

Your standard car tire is composed of roughly 45% rubber.

If a tire weighs around 20lbs, that roughly equates to around 9lbs of rubber.

Despite only weighing 20 grams, Lego tires, unlike the life-size version, are 100% rubber.

This means that it would take almost 200 Lego tires to make up one real-sized tire.

It is remarkable to think that the world’s largest tire manufacturer is a toy manufacturer.The post America’s biggest tire manufacturer isn’t who you think appeared first on Supercar Blondie.