Who Owns Falken?

Sumitomo Rubber Industries created Falken in Japan in 1983 to market high-performance radial tires, launching the brand in North America two years later. The early identity was enthusiast performance: affordable tires for sports cars and modified vehicles at prices below premium competition.

The brand built credibility through motorsport. Falken-backed drift cars became fixtures in professional drifting through the 2000s and 2010s, and the company sponsored Formula Drift and off-road racing programs that connected the Falken name to enthusiast driving at a fraction of premium brand costs.

Product strategy evolved from performance cars toward the truck and SUV segments that dominate US tire demand. The Azenis line carried the performance identity while the Ziex and Sincera lines covered touring passenger cars. The pivotal product became Wildpeak, the all-terrain light truck tire family that expanded through the 2010s into the A/T3W, A/T4W, and R/T variants and is now Sumitomo's flagship North American line.

Sumitomo's 2015 dissolution of its long alliance with Goodyear reshaped the brand landscape: Sumitomo kept Falken outright and retained Dunlop rights in most markets, and Falken absorbed much of the group's North American brand investment that had previously split across Dunlop and Goodyear channels.

By 2026, Falken ranks among the most recommended budget-to-mid-range tire brands in the US, with Reddit communities and independent reviewers routinely pairing it with Nexen as the best value in performance and all-terrain categories.