Falken Tires promotes Cliff Stewart to director original equipment sales

Rancho Cucamonga, CA – Cliff Stewart has been promoted to Director, Original Equipment Sales of Falken Tires, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Rubber North America (SRNA). A six-year veteran of the tire brand, Stewart is based out of Falken’s Detroit office and works with several Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to earn more factory-installed fitments among their vehicles.

“This is an important new role for Cliff who has worked diligently in expanding Falken Tires’ footprint in the OEM business,” stated Darren Thomas, President and CEO of SRNA. “Falken has enjoyed significant growth in this marketplace over the past five to six years, and that started with gaining trust and building strong relationships. I attribute a lot of our success in those efforts to Cliff.”

Stewart has more than 20 years of automotive industry experience, with varied roles in business development, marketing, sales and purchasing, including time at an OEM. He has spent 16 of those years in the tire industry. A native Michigander, Stewart earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Falken’s OE department gained momentum in 2016 when Stewart first joined SRNA. At that time, the division was selling approximately 700,000 units, most of them not Falken branded. Discussions that year were just beginning with many manufacturers, including Toyota. This year, Toyota will become SRNA’s largest OE partner.

“We are projecting deliveries of more than two million tires this year to our OE customers, and most of those units will be Falken-branded,” Stewart noted.

“Our team has developed excellent relationships with our OEM partners including Toyota, Stellantis, Ford and Subaru” Stewart continued. “All these customers are important to our overall success in the marketplace. The OEMs value what Falken brings to the table in terms of our product performance, quality, and customer focus. And we’ll continue to deliver on all those for years to come. It’s an honor to be a part of Falken’s OE Sales team and to be able to contribute to our growing sales and recognition.”