Bridgestone Fires Up Tier-Two Tire Pressure

Part of Firestone’s campaign involves a contest with this Firestone-logo-bedecked Pete going to a lucky CDL owner at next year’s Mid-America Trucking Show.

AKRON, OH. — Small fleets and owner-operators, prepare to get stoned. Firestoned, that is.

Starting in March at the Mid-America Trucking Show and then turbocharged last week at a major press event in Akron, Ohio, the tire manufacturer is launching a major marketing effort under the slogan: “If you drive, drive a Firestone.”

Firestone Tires are the mid-market brand from Bridgestone Commercial Solutions and the company wants to position Firestone as the “number-one tier-two commercial truck tire in North America.”

Bridgestone also produces tier-one Bridgestones, tier-three Daytons and Bandag retreads.

The campaign comes on the heels of a nearly billion-dollar investment in the company’s facilities around the U.S.A over the past few years.

The press event was held at the sparkling new $100-million Bridgestone Americas Technical Center in Akron.

The state-of-the-art facility is also a showcase for Firestone’s proprietary and ecologically friendly building materials, making it an apt launching pad for Firestone’s newest truck tires.

The company’s three new tires are aimed at regional to long-haul, with emphases on fuel-saving designs and other features at a lower cost per mile. The new tires — FS591, FD691, and FT491 — meet EPA SmartWay and California Air Resources Board (CARB) fuel-efficiency requirements without sacrificing removal miles, says Bridgestone.

(Actually, in Canada, the highest-volume size for these tires is the 11R22.5, which will not be available until later this year.)

Commented Bridgestone Commercial Solutions VP Marketing Matthew Stevenson, “Owner-operators and small fleets are paying more attention to their tires than ever before because of climbing fuel costs, increasing regulations and escalating raw-material costs.”

Stevenson asserted that these new tires “promise up to 19-percent longer life and an increase in fuel economy of one percent.” Added up, that means operating costs can be reduced by as much as seven percent.

Akron has gone from being the home of tire manufacturing to serving as the research headquarters for the company. Only racing tires are produced in the old Firestone factory, which was opened by Harvey Firestone 113 years ago.

Watch todaystrucking.com for more details on Firestone’s campaign as it unfurls more vigorously across Canada later this year.