It's a great pleasure to meet so many colleagues today at Prospira headquarters. Both Bridgestone and Zhongding have made decisions focused on future development, and we warmly welcome Prospira to the Zhongding family. During the transfer negotiations, we discussed with respect and sincerity how to make this enterprise great again. We also committed to respecting the excellent corporate culture and atmosphere formed at Bridgestone.
After three months of Prospira's operation, we have seen positive signs. For instance, Toyota Motor, which had visited PSAM, praised the stable operations maintained by Prospira post-transaction. Additionally, PSAM (the U.S. company) received a new business order from BMW, and General Motors will visit PSAM next week to discuss new business. I believe this is the effect of the collaboration between Prospira and Zhongding, leveraging the strengths of both. In the future, as global business becomes even more challenging, let us continue to embrace challenges, utilize the advantages of this collaboration, and seize opportunities.
In fact, Bridgestone and Zhongding share the same philosophy and culture: creating value ourselves and contributing to society in a responsible manner with the highest quality. They have the same respect for teammates at all times and the same sincere attitude towards their work. This is also why we have achieved good results after just three short months.
Although the environment surrounding the automotive industry is becoming increasingly difficult with the transition from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles and declining demand, I believe that by maintaining our existing corporate culture and independence, sharing our technology and capabilities, and respecting each other, we can overcome these difficulties.
It is currently the Chinese Spring Festival season, and I once again wish everyone all the best in 2023! (Excerpt from translation)
Japan Prospira Company: Established on January 14, 2022, it is a direct wholly-owned subsidiary formed by Japan's Bridgestone Corporation after divesting its shock-absorbing rubber business, packaging all companies involved in this business. Bridgestone's shock-absorbing rubber business factories are mainly distributed in Japan, the United States, Thailand, India, and Changzhou, China. Major clients include global OEMs such as Volkswagen, Audi, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, and Dongfeng Motor. In 2020, it achieved annual sales revenue of 54,418 million yen (approximately 419.01 million USD). Zhongding Group formally completed the closing of this business on September 1, 2022, after signing an SPA agreement with Bridgestone. (Currently, except for the India factory which has not yet completed the legal closing procedures, all other factories have been fully closed).
