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Tires, stores unchanged, but corporate identity is altered
By Jim Mackinnon
Beacon Journal business writer
Published on Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008
The iconic, Akron-based Firestone name will disappear in January in many places, but the tire brand will live on as part of a major corporate restructuring for Bridgestone Group's North and South American subsidiaries.
The tire maker on Tuesday said it is removing the Firestone name from many of its subsidiaries effective Jan. 1 to better reflect them as members of Bridgestone Group and to simplify things for the public.
The Firestone name will be retained ''with its own identity as a historic product and service brand'' within the new corporate structure, according to Mark Emkes, chairman and chief executive of the Japanese tire maker's Nashville-based Bridgestone Americas Holdings Inc.
In one case that is the reverse, the Bridgestone name will be dropped from a significant subsidiary in favor of the Firestone name.
The company will continue to keep and promote the Firestone name on tires and other products, spokeswoman Christine Karbowiak said.
''The Firestone tire brand ain't going anywhere,'' she said. ''We are going to continue to support it and build on it. . . . We're not going to
mess with success.''
The company said it has been studying a new corporate name structure over the years because it has found many people ask whether they are Firestone Bridgestone or Bridgestone Firestone, Karbowiak said.
''We continue to confuse the heck out of people,'' she said.
The new names and restructuring are intended in part to help differentiate the Bridgestone and Firestone brands, she said.
Separately, as part of the restructuring, it was announced Karbowiak will become the first woman to serve as a member of a Bridgestone Group board of directors.
The company announced the following name changes effective Jan. 1:
• Bridgestone Americas Holding Inc. will be renamed Bridgestone Americas Inc.
• Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire LLC will become Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations LLC, part of a new, larger operating unit called Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations.
• BFS Retail & Commercial Operations LLC will be renamed Bridgestone Retail Operations. The unit operates the Firestone Complete Auto Care and Tires Plus outlets. The stores will keep the Firestone name, Karbowiak said.
• Bridgestone Firestone Latin American Tire Operations will become the Latin American Tire division.
• Bridgestone Firestone de Mexico will be renamed Bridgestone de-Mexico, and Bridgestone Firestone Canada Inc. will be renamed Bridgestone Canada Inc.
• BFS Diversified Products LLC, which does business as Bridgestone Firestone Diversified Products, will be renamed Firestone Diversified Products LLC and drop the Bridgestone name. The subsidiary makes Firestone-brand roofing materials, air springs, textiles and natural rubber.
''We will be renaming our companies in a way that will clearly define Bridgestone Americas and its subsidiaries as members of the global Bridgestone Group,'' Emkes said in a prepared statement. ''Through this effort we will provide Firestone with its own identity as a historic product and service brand, and we will take a long step forward toward eliminating confusion as to our overall corporate identity.''
The restructuring and new alignment of the Americas tire business ''will align us more closely with the regional business model that Bridgestone Corp. is promoting for all of its global tire operations,'' Emkes said.
Bridgestone Americas this past summer celebrated the 20th anniversary of Bridgestone's buying Akron-based Firestone in 1988. The merger ended up creating what is now the world's largest tire company.
The campus at the company's research center off South Main Street, pending future corporate and public approvals, will be the location of a new, state-of-the-art technical center to replace the current center in a nearby hulking, and aging, former tire factory that at one time was also Firestone's corporate headquarters.
Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com.
The iconic, Akron-based Firestone name will disappear in January in many places, but the tire brand will live on as part of a major corporate restructuring for Bridgestone Group's North and South American subsidiaries.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Akron, OH
Posted 04:24 AM, 10/15/2008
No matter what you call it...it's still not American!!
Posted 06:55 AM, 10/15/2008
Looks like the Japs are dumping us.
akron, oh
Posted 07:34 AM, 10/15/2008
I thought after the last batch of exploding Firestone tires they would have dropped the name.
Hey we won the battles of WWII. But it looks like the Japs are winning the economic war they have been waging ever since.
Posted 08:44 AM, 10/15/2008
I guess I now live in japanese park
Posted 10:37 AM, 10/15/2008
WAAAHHHH, the complainers are out in full force today. I guess that is all that is left on the boards here at the ABJ.
Posted 11:48 AM, 10/15/2008
Hey MayFong....... They are NOT WINNING the economic war THEY ALREADY WON !!!!!!!!!!!
Posted 11:57 AM, 10/15/2008
No it's not japanese park but Bridgestone Park! They dropped firestone from everything but roofing materials. Does this mean we have to change to Bridgestone Metro Park and Bridgestone High School?
Posted 01:05 PM, 10/15/2008
quit yer bi@($*#$ten sheeeze they gave us great service recently at the rolling acres store.you can call em anything just don't call em late for supper!!!!
akron, oh
Posted 02:22 PM, 10/15/2008
That must be about the only thing left at
Rolling Acres. i guess it is hard to steal from a tire store.
somewhere near you, CA
Posted 02:43 PM, 10/15/2008
Call them whatever you want, I haven't and will continue to avoid them when I buy tires.
Posted 03:44 PM, 10/15/2008
..." The name thats known it's Firestone where the rubber meets the road..."
The Great City in, OH
Posted 03:50 PM, 10/15/2008
MayFong!? Is that Asian?
south of Akron, NO
Posted 05:04 PM, 10/15/2008
well, MayFong, apparently you don't know the facts. Ford was telling owners to underinflate the tires for a better ride. Unfortunately, Ford had better lawyers.....
south of Akron, NO
Posted 05:06 PM, 10/15/2008
and alan, you need to be a tire dealer for a day...Bridgestone and Firestone tires are second only to Michelin for quality, longevity and perfection (they present the least amount of balancing issues of the tires out there).
Orrville, Oh
Posted 07:30 PM, 10/15/2008
Foreign investor Bridgestone stockholders merging with Firestone stockholders (money marketers) that use workers willing to produce Bridgestone tires for fewer wages than they can afford life. And pay for the more stock dividends (money) Bridgestone stockholders market quarterly in the wholesale and retail price of Bridgestone tires. That gets only tires. With money derived from wages. To measure and maintain the strength and growth of this unaffordable economy and prove that only money that can only be used to identify agreed value of sellers and buyers in the marketplace has value? Makes workers life and Bridgestone tires unaffordable!
Posted 09:26 PM, 10/15/2008
I have had nothing but luck with FIRESTONE tires, it will always be Firestone to me! Look back at the Ford Explorer cases, Ford, the fellow american company did nothing but throw Firestone tires under the bus! Telling people to underinflate tires on a car that already has an increased potential for roll overs is asking for a death sentence. That was all such a shame! ....BTW, I drove a Ford Explorer w/ Firestone Tires...because I don't drive like an idiot, I maintain correct tire pressure, and I don't overload my vehicle with people, equipment, etc. (like so many of the people involved in the cases) I never had a problem! I got rid of my Ford, not my tires!
