Falken is a brand of passenger car, light truck, and medium truck tires owned by the Japanese company Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI). It was launched in its native country of Japan in 1983, and was introduced to the North American market two years later and in Europe in 1988. Falken has now become a stand-alone brand that focuses on UHP (ultra high performance) products while utilizing professional motorsports to further develop and improve products for worldwide distribution.
Dunlop Tires North America, formerly known as Sumitomo Rubber North America, Inc. and Falken Tire Corporation, has its corporate headquarters in Rancho Cucamonga, California, with a West Coast distribution center in Ontario, California. Additional Falken Tire distribution locations include warehouses in Illinois, Florida, New Jersey, and Texas.
In June 2015, Sumitomo and Goodyear announced that they would dissolve their worldwide partnership. As part of the deal, Sumitomo bought Goodyear’s Dunlop Tires North America, which included a manufacturing plant in Tonawanda, near Buffalo, New York. The plant, rebranded as Sumitomo Rubber USA, began to produce Falken-branded tires in January 2016. As of 2025, that Buffalo, New York manufacturing plant has closed. [1]