Tokyo - The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., will participate in Auto China 2008, which runs from April 20 (Sunday) through April 28 (Monday) in Beijing. To increase recognition of the "Yokohama" brand in China, the company has been representing the name "Yokohama" with phonograms since last summer, and will do the same at the international auto show for the first time, where it will exhibit all of its products being sold in the Chinese market.
*Phonograms are Chinese characters whose Chinese pronunciations correspond to the phonetic syllables of the original word or name - in this case, "Yokohama" as pronounced in Japanese.

The new rendering of the brand in China is pronounced "you ku hao ma." Yokohama Rubber continues to work to make the corporate name of "Yokohama" a globally recognized brand, but, as the characters for "Yokohama" are read quite differently in Chinese, the company adopted phonograms that are similar phonetically. Through participation in the auto show, Yokohama Rubber hopes the name "you ku hao ma" will become known throughout in China.

Included in products to be exhibited will be passenger car tires produced by a local production and sales company, Hangzhou Yokohama Tire Co., Ltd.; ADVAN tires, the global flagship brand; SUV tires; motor sports tires; and tires for trucks and buses. An extensive lineup of Yokohama Rubber's products will thus be on display all at once, in one place. In addition, the car known as the "Mach 5," which the hero drives in the Hollywood film "Speed Racer," to be released this coming summer, will be shown. Yokohama Rubber has a product placement agreement with the makers of the film providing for the use of Yokohama tires on the Mach 5. Yokohama Rubber is also supporting extensive promotional activities for the film in major markets around the world.

In China, internationally prestigious auto shows are staged each year, alternately in Beijing and Shanghai. Auto China 2008 in Beijing this year will be the tenth in that city. At the previous Beijing show, in 2006, 1,500 auto-related manufacturers from all over the world exhibited their products, and some 600,000 people attended.