Bridgestone has said its double NTDA Tyre Industry Awards 2018 victories “endorse” its “hard work over the past 12 months.” The manufacturer was presented with the Staff Training & Development accolade, along with the headline Tyre Manufacturer of the Year award – the third time it has claimed the honour in the past four years.
Bridgestone has opened its refurbished UK offices in Warwick with the help of local MP Matt Western. The company’s Bridgestone House offices in Tachbrook Park, its UK home for 20 years, have undergone a radical facelift since the beginning of the year. Opened by the Labour MP on Wednesday 31 May, the refurbishment cements its position in the Midlands, the company states.
Bridgestone UK launched its Olympic Games partnership in early 2017 with three new Olympian brand ambassadors. The tyre manufacturer’s marketing campaign to coincide with the sponsorship has the tagline “Chase Your Dream, No Matter What”, and its latest event paired a group of “everyday battlers” with a performance psychologist, a 10 metre diving board, and the UK’s synchronised springboard diving Olympic champion from the Rio 2016 games, Chris Mears. Their experience, captured on camera, can be viewed for the first time below, and on the Bridgestone UK YouTube channel.
Bridgestone has launched its extended worldwide Olympic Partnership in the UK with a national campaign focused on “putting some emotion” into its brand marketing, according to the manufacturer’s representatives. In order to achieve this, the world’s largest tyre maker has adopted the campaign slogan “Chase Your Dream, No Matter What”, with three British Olympians who have overcome different kinds of adversity representing this ethos.
Back-to-back titles as Tyre Manufacturer of the Year has likely led to back slapping all-round at Bridgestone. The tyre maker was selected ahead of fellow nominees Goodyear Dunlop, Hankook, Michelin, Pirelli and Yokohama to take the award for a second consecutive year at last Thursday’s Tyre Industry Awards, and this victory was further sweetened when Bridgestone scooped the Staff Training & Development Initiative of the Year award.
With children going back to the classroom and rush-hour traffic resuming, Bridgestone has urged motorists to take extra care on the school-run. The tyre manufacturer said that the latest TyreSafe research suggests that 10 million vehicles could be driven with at least one tyre under the minimum legal limit of 1.6mm. Coupling this with the new school term and an expected spike in traffic and Bridgestone believes that the time has never been more critical to carry out some simple tyre checks – or even drive to a selected garage to get a professional technician to take a look.
Bridgestone’s DriveGuard run-flat tyre has been crowned Auto Express Product of the Year 2016. The touring tyre has been recognised for extending run-flat technology to cars previously unable to fit such products. The tyre became available in the UK in April following its January launch in Monaco.
Roughly a year after Tyres & Accessories met Bridgestone North Europe region managing director Robin Shaw, just a few weeks after he took on the role, progress at the Warwick, UK-based part of the global company is said to have been “really good”. More than 12 months after our last interview, Shaw’s perspective on the tyre industry – previously he led Bosch’s UK operations UK – has deepened significantly as has his influence in the industry.
“The direction is good, but we always want to be further on than we are,” Shaw told Tyres & Accessories. Of course when you ask how business is at multi-segmented, multinational like Bridgestone, there is no simple answer to that question. Rather there are multiple variables, the importance of which differs from segment to segment. However, the general synopsis is that all segments are doing well, with some doing particularly well.
Bridgestone has called on the UK Government to implement mandatory fines on motorists who drive with defective or worn tyres. The manufacturer said the UK should follow Ireland’s lead in the interests of road safety; the Irish minister for transport, tourism and sport, Paschal Donohoe announced the new fixed charge notice (FCN) offence for motorists in mid-April, with fines of €80 now in effect.
With the temperatures already plummeting across the UK after a mild winter to date, Bridgestone is urging motorists to take some simple driving tips to stay as safe as possible – with or without a set of winter tyres. A marked drop in temperatures is now already being felt and snow is predicted for parts of the UK, and Bridgestone’s managing director Robin Shaw has thus called on motorists to adopt some simple driving habits to stay as safe as possible.
Bridgestone’s double victory at the NTDA Awards 2015 was labelled a “significant breakthrough for the business.” The world’s largest tyre manufacturer won both the Tyre Manufacturer of the Year and the Industry Marketing Campaign of the Year awards, presented at the Annual Dinner in early October. Bridgestone added that the awards pay “tribute to the giant strides made by its senior management team over the past 12 months.”
In his position as Bridgestone’s north region managing director, as well as chair of the SMMT Aftermarket Section, Robin Shaw has expressed concern at Chancellor George Osborne’s plans in last month’s Budget to extend the deadline for new cars and motorcycles to be MOT tested after four years instead of three. Shaw believes the added 12 months will result in more cars running on tyres with tread depths below the 1.6mm legal limit.
Bridgestone has boosted its North region senior management team with the addition of a new business development role. Guy Jones, formerly of Land Rover and Kia, brings a wealth of automotive experience to the new Bridgestone management team, which has been revamped considerably in the last few months.
Former HiQ retail director, Farrell Dolan has been appointed Bridgestone’s new north Europe consumer sales and marketing director. Having spent a month with Bridgestone already, Dolan is optimistic about the coming year, expressing his excitement about the company’s potential. He said that he had been impressed by the sales team’s knowledge and professionalism, as well as the Firestone brand’s mid-range proposition. Dolan joins new managing director Robin Shaw at the helm of Bridgestone’s activities in the north Europe region during a period of reorganisation following a number of retirements and departures, including former MD John McNaught.
At the end of October 2014, Robin Shaw took over as the managing director of Bridgestone’s North Europe region, which includes the UK as well as the Nordic markets. Shaw replaced John McNaught who had been with the company for 12 years. He joined at a time when reorganisation is taking place within the wider European business and when a number of key UK and North region managers have either retired or gone off to pastures new. Tyres & Accessories caught up with Robin Shaw as he was en route to Brussels for one of many meetings he has had with European executives during the beginning of his tenure.