Firestone Archives - Page 38 of 54 - Tyrepress

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Firestone East Africa to invest in equipment

Firestone East Africa Ltd. (Nairobi/Kenya) is set to commission a 114-million Shilling (0.8 million Pounds)truck and bus tyre-assembly machine as it struggles to emerge from a profit-decline over the last two years. The development will be coming on the back of another 1.1 million Pounds project. The new assembly machine is intended to enable enhancement of product range including the production of tubeless tyres. The firm has been shaken by huge profit drops since 2002.

25th March 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone-Firestone to pay 149 million dollars

A Texas state court judge has approved a 149 million dollar settlement of 30 class-action lawsuits filed on behalf of tyre owners against Bridgestone-Firestone North American Tire.

16th March 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone perform well in German tests

Bridgestone tyres have headed the rankings in comparative tests conducted by German ADAC motorwelt. Reports published in the March issue place the B330 Evo 165/70 R 14 T and RE720 205/55 R 16 W at the top of their respective categories in side-by-side evaluations of summer tyres from competitive suppliers to the European marketplace. Both brands, Bridgestone and Firestone, were highly placed. With a VW Polo as the test vehicle, the Bridgestone B330 Evo emerged ahead of 15 rivals. The Firestone F590 FS also occupied a high position on this list. In the 205/55 R 16 W class, the Bridgestone RE720 ranked first among a line-up of 15 tyres put through their paces on an Audi A4. Here too, the Firestone brand fared well, with the Firehawk TZ 200 filling third place in the points total.

16th March 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Firestone recalls 297,000 tires

Deja vu for Bridgestone as the company recalls some Steeltex tyres including 297,000 tyres on Ford Excursion sport-utility vehicles following at least five fatalities. The Steeltex Radial A/T tyres were made at a factory in Joliette, Quebec, from March 1999 through December 2002, the tyremaker said. The tyres will be replaced without charge, Firestone said. The Steeltex tyres fail “in a situation where the vehicle is overloaded or the tyre is way under-inflated,” Firestone spokesman Dan MacDonald said. One of the fatal accidents involved a vehicle hauling a trailer that lost control, while in another the sport-utility vehicle was loaded with 1,500 pounds of bottled water, he said. The NHTSA twice previously investigated Steeltex tyres without finding any defects.

27th February 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Attorney Seeks Class Action Lawsuit Against Bridgestone-Firestone

It must feel like deja vu for Bridgestone-Firestone as a Californian attorney is seeking to expand complaints about alleged defects in Steeltex tyres into a national class-action lawsuit. Two Californians are suing Bridgestone-Firestone and the lawyer claims that the tyres are responsible for a dozen deaths and more than 100 injuries. Bridgestone-Firestone deny the allegations, pointing out that an 18-month investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that the tyres out-performed some competitors’ tyres. Steeltex tyres are popular with owners of RVs and pickups, plus they are often fitted on ambulances.

26th February 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Firestone employees threaten strike

Wages, pension fund contributions and affordable health care coverage headed the list of issues brought to the bargaining table by union officials representating the 157 employees at Orange County’s Firestone Polymers synthetic rubber plant. PACE Local 4-836 union representatives and plant officials entered into contract negotiations, but not before employees agreed they would go on strike if a new contract were not forged by the March 7 deadline, the date the employee’s existing three-year contract expires. Dan MacDonald, a spokesperson with Firestone’s parent company, Nashville-based Bridgestone America, said he believed contract talks would be successful, but criticised union representatives for taking negotiations away from the bargaining table. “I want to emphasize that we believe that is very important to keep the negotiations at the bargaining table and to not try to work out a deal through the media,” MacDonald said, adding that it is important to forge a contract that allows the company to be successful.”

13th February 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Lampe announces retirement

Bridgestone Americas Holding Inc. Chairman, CEO and President John Lampe has announced that he will retire on March 31, 2004. He will be replaced by Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire LLC (BFNT) Chairman, CEO and President Mark Emkes. Emkes will retain his existing position as chair and CEO of BFNT. Lampe will remain on Bridgestone Americas Holding’s board of directors at the request of both Emkes and parent company Bridgestone Corp.

12th January 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone OE on new Acura TL sedan

Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire is the 100 per cent OE supplier of tyres for the redesigned 2004 Acura TL sedan. BFNAT will supply Bridgestone Turanza EL42 all-season tyres and Potenza RE030 summer performance tyres in the size 235/45 R17W. The Acura TL is designed to compete with vehicles such as the BMW 5 series and Lexus ES300.

18th December 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Manufacturers in motorsport

Motorsport is a key tool in marketing tyres and has been since the first tyres were produced. Harvey Firestone used to say “Race them on Sunday, sell them on Monday”. That holds as true today as it did back then. However, the market is much more complex now with a wider variety of motorsports and a wider variety of manufacturers. Not only that but the technology of the vehicles and the tyres has developed at a pace that has created specialist divisions in manufacture solely to deal with developing motorsport tyres.

T&A looks at the leading players in the market in the UK and uncovers the thinking behind their involvement in motorsport, why they do it, how they do it and indeed what they hope to gain from motorsport in the long run. From a simple publicity advantage for some, through to a full blown engineering partnership with vehicle manufacturers for others.

12th December 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin has seized the opportunity in North America

Times have changed dramatically in the North American tyre industry. Nowadays there is no such thing as a one-brand dealer. The seemingly inexorable way to ever more private brands ceased with Firestone’s tyre recall. Now tyres have penetrated more than before into the consciousness of the consumers. One expected a “flight to quality”, which is a little misleading, because the house brands manufactured by large tyre companies do not have quality deficiency. The hoped for trend is directed to brands, toward brand image, and on brand contents. With this we arrive automatically at Michelin. No tyre manufacturer, in economically good as well as bad times, did as much for the structure of its tire brand as Michelin. Michelin was not the inventor of the steel-belted radial tyre, but the French tyre maker marketed it world-wide with a persistence which is worth admiration. There is no alternative to the steel-belted radial tyre. The French did not invent the multi-brand strategy, either. But they filled this operation with content and brought it into the market in such a way that an alternative was impossible. Nevertheless, Michelin puts its stamp on the markets of this world and in particular on the American market in a completely unmistakable form when it comes to multi-brand strategy.

Las Vegas is for Michelin a good and important meeting place, but the events and meetings outside of the fair hold themselves within clearly smaller frameworks than, for example, those of Bridgestone/Firestone. Michelin has attained clear advantages in the last three years in the American market. Was Michelin now the winner, or were Bridgestone (Firestone recall) and Goodyear (continuous large company losses) only the losers? One would underestimate the French if one would attribute their advances only to the weaknesses of the competitors. Anyone who analyses the American market can come to the conclusion, that the French would have asserted themselves in any case, although perhaps not as quickly. Anyhow, in North America they do ride on a wave of success, although this market has not yet recovered completely from the dramatic break-downs of “9/11”.

10th December 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone appears in good shape again in America

Bridgestone/Firestone has survived the largest tyre recall in the history of the tyre industry in North America, and yet has switched again into forward gear. Under the guidance of its charismatic boss John Lampe, the company is now working hard on an improvement of the results, so that the record loss extending far beyond a billion dollars for 2001 will soon be forgotten.

Two years ago Lampe succeeded at Las Vegas in bringing around 4,000 tyre dealers on the side of his company and the brands Bridgestone and Firestone. And he has lost none of his persuasive power. At this year’s SEMA Show in Las Vegas Lampe presented to thousands of dealers new Firestone products and advertising campaigns, aimed to affect these Firestone customers emotionally. It became clear that the new rise of the tyre brand Firestone cannot be stopped, not even in North America.

Talking to T&A, Lampe briefly reminded us of the tough times. At the peak of the crisis the company counter-steered with the brand Bridgestone. But then again Lampe doesn’t want to hear, that Bridgestone has been made a cheaper tyre brand as planned: “A more differentiated view is necessary. With a volume line we were cheaper, because we wanted to absorb Firestone decreases, but for example with the Potenza, which represents the top line, we have always held the price and could hold it. Since the Firestone recall we carried out changes, with which we can annually sell eight million additional Bridgestone tyres by now. Today we sell more Bridgestone and Firestone tyres than before.” Before and after! Talking to John Lampe that is to be heard several times. In Lampe’s world this means: before and after the tyre recall. During the last three years a change took place towards the brands Bridgestone, Firestone and Dayton. 65 per cent of all tyres sold carry a Bridgestone or a Firestone signature; today already predominantly that of Bridgestone. And that will continue, because nowadays the OE business is exclusively carried out with Bridgestone tyres and in the longer term this should affect the company’s replacement business. Approximately 40 per cent of all passenger car and 4 x 4 tyres, that are sold in America, went “before” into the OE business. Today there is only about 30 per cent. Lampe: “Three years ago we were in a rather despairing financial situation and had to do something for relaxation. The OE business was profitable at no time. And of course we could not afford to always produce volume to whatever costs, but we have very much paid attention to profitability. Our market share is now lower than “before,” but we have the more profitable dimensions. Also Michelin acted very selectively, and into these gaps pushed some European and Asian manufacturers.”

10th December 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear: Nobody knows what the future has in store

Because of the continuing market weakness and on-going high losses in North America, Goodyear’s situation in “Bob” Keegan’s 25 months as COO and president and in the 11 months as CEO remains extremely serious and worrying. Unlike competitors such as Michelin, Goodyear could not even increase market share by capitalising on the Firestone disaster.

Even worse: Bridgestone, with Firestone – a tyre brand that many predicted would not survive the crisis – is back on the road and advancing strongly. Cooper, during the third quarter 2003, added around almost ten per cent, while Goodyear could increase sales by only approximately four per cent, while the total market grew by more than six per cent. Also Goodyear’s figures continue to be under pressure, because the sporadic price increases could not compensate for past rises in raw material prices, margins remained lower than expected and the fixed costs “moved in the wrong direction” despite all restructuring measures, says Rod Lache, Analyst at the Deutsche Bank in New York.

Also the sales development in North America is not satisfactory: in 2002 Goodyear sold eight million tyres fewer in the US market compared with the year before, and in 2003 everything points to a further sales reduction of more than two million tyres. This is a clear sign of continuing acceptance problems on the market. Following this it is no surprise that analysts still do not recognise any signs of a turnaround in the recently submitted business figures for the first nine months of this year and that the visible trends give further reasons for concern regarding the future of the company.

Talking to Tyres & Accessories, Bob Keegan was still optimistic. It cannot be denied that fewer tyres than before have been sold. The biggest challenge is to generate growth in the highest market segment. This is the goal of the strategy “How Do We Win” with its seven quintessential points and its personnel policy that has already been explained to analysts in the early summer. Keegan: “I took a few good decisions concerning executive positions in order to be able to realise the necessary changes. My goal was not merely one of only bringing in outsiders. In all areas of the company we have a good mixture of old and newly-hired, high-level personnel. Jon Rich, who has to bear the load of the turnaround, has the same pattern of thinking as me.” Keegan was convinced that he has now brought together the correct executive team. “Managers who led the company into the crisis, are not necessarily the right staff to lead it out again. We needed a change of course, in order to be able to win. I feel very comfortable with the people, who now carry this responsibility along with me.”

10th December 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone targets Thai youth market with Firestone

Bridgestone Sales (Thailand) is embarking on a new TV advertising campaign, aimed at promoting the Firestone brand to drivers aged 18-25. Drivers in this age group are more likely to switch brands, says Marketing Director Yoshiaki Hiraishi, and Bridgestone aims to increase replacement market share from the current 5-6 per cent to 10 per cent. The move follows the launch of Michelin’s BFGoodrich brand into the Thai market. Hiraishi is confident that any increase in Firestone sales will not be at the expense of the Bridgestone brand, as the new campaign is specifically targeted at younger age groups, rather than motorists in general, where Bridgestone is more popular. The Firestone brand is well known in other sectors in Thailand, especially agricultural tyres, where the claimed market share is around 50 per cent, and pick-up trucks, where the share is 16 per cent.

10th December 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Dayton under threat again

The future of Oklahoma City’s Dayton Tire plant is threatened by a dispute between two power supply companies.

3rd December 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

BSFS Announces NA Price Increase

Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire, LLC (BFNT) and Bridgestone/Firestone Canada Inc. (BFCA) have jointly announced an “across the board” price increase of up to 5 per cent on the companies’ tyre products sold in the replacement and original equipment markets, including consumer, truck/bus, agricultural and off-the-road channels. This increase will be effective January 1, 2004, and affects Bridgestone, Firestone, Dayton, associate and private brand tyres.

26th November 2003/by Tyrepress Editors