February 18, 2010 – At the 2010 Chicago Auto Show, Bridgestone showcased their new brand of environmentally friendly tires, the Ecopia EP422 line. The tires are designed to drastically decrease rolling resistance, improving gas mileage and increasing their useful life to over 65,000 miles.

The majority of tires manufactured are not optimized for fuel efficiency but are optimized for performance, and many eco-friendly tires offered today sacrifice that performance for improved gas mileage. Bridgestone claims that the new Ecopia line significantly improves vehicle fuel efficiency while also meeting or exceeding other performance targets such as providing a quiet ride and wet weather handling.

The Ecopia line are made of 100% recycled materials and reduce rolling resistance by 36%-42% compared to traditional tires of the same size. Drivers can expect that decreased resistance to translate into approximately a 4% fuel efficiency improvement. And with a useful life of 65,000 miles, drivers and corporate fleet managers can expect that increased fuel economy to not only pay back the price premium on the tires, but the entire initial cost.