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Did You Know: President Obama's heavily armored state car, also nicknamed The Beast, rides on Goodyear Luxembourg developed tires?
During President Obama’s visit to China in November, President Xi Jinping might ask him about the super-secure tires of his limousine, a made-in-Luxembourg innovation.
Since President Barack Obama took the oath of office to become the 44th President of the United States, he drove countless kilometers in his official limousine carried on gigantic, nearly bus-size Goodyear Kevlar-reinforced run-flats tires capable of keeping The Beast on the road for quite some distance. Those state-of-the-art tires were actually developed in Colmar-Berg Luxembourg, where Goodyear chose to establish one of its innovation centers in 1957. The multinational tire manufacturer, who understood very early on that innovation was a key success factor, has two Innovation Centers worldwide: one at its headquarters in Akron, Ohio, and the other one in Luxembourg. Today, the Luxembourg center employs approximately 1000 engineers, scientists, technicians and associates from approximately 40 different nationalities—including from China. They use sophisticated equipment and technologies to develop and engineer unique tires for cars, light trucks and truck vehicles for markets all around the world.
Little is known about Research and Development activity in Luxembourg, yet leading companies such as Goodyear have chosen to establish their R&D centers in the Grand Duchy, taking advantage of the highly-skilled multicultural workforce, government support on Research, Development and Innovation, an optimum IP environment, the country’s central location in Europe, commercial neutrality and an overall stable business-friendly environment. Over the years, and thanks to a strong government commitment to innovation, Luxembourg has established itself as a preferred destination for research and development centers. In addition to Goodyear, examples abound: IEE, whose sensing products are becoming standard in most of the world’s cars; Guardian Industries, producer of high-specification glass for the automotive and construction industries; Delphi Automotive, with its European Customer Technology Centre… to name but a few in the automotive sector.
To learn more about Luxembourg as an Innovation hub, please visit: www.automotivecomponents.lu