Bridgestone has just brought well-known, US-based Firestone brand of tyres into the Indian market. BTVI spoke with Kazuhiko Mimura, MD, Bridgestone India, on the company’s plans in a country where the tyre market remains competitive.

Excerpts:

What is your view on the Indian automobile market?

The Indian economy is growing steadily and rapidly. Car services are also growing. Our market survey shows a lot of different customer segments where people are becoming more knowledgeable about tyres. We felt that this is the right time to bring the Firestone brand here. This is a legendary brand and has a great legacy in the US. We want Firestone brand to cater to the value-seeker segment.

So will Firestone cater to passenger vehicles and SUVs in India? You have already been catering to this segment via Bridgestone. How does the new offering add value?

Previously, we had only the Bridgestone brand of tyres in India. Bridgestone is known for its best performance in sporting cars, and is a good fit for the more comfortable cars in the market. So last year we introduced the Bridgestone Ecopia brand for customer who wants to save more fuel. We were missing one particular segment of all Indian customers, which is the value-seeker. The value-seeker buyer wants a dependable brand which also satisfies the basic performance metrics — durability, safety. We think Firestone is the answer to that.

When it comes to expansion of the portfolio, what’s the plan going ahead?

Bridgestone is positioned in the very premium segment. We are offering Firestone to the buyer in the standard-price segment. Compared with Bridgestone, Firestone will be at a price level that is 10-15 per cent lower.

How do you expect this help in what is clearly a volumes game? Is this volume play how you see your footprint in India getting bigger?

It is too early to say, but our plan is to have Firestone sales to be about 20 per cent of our total sales.

Are you extending your dealership network as well?

Yes we are.

What’s the current dealer network at, and how many more do you plan to add?

We currently have more than 3,000 dealerships all over India. That should get a boost with the help of the Firestone launch as well as the two-wheeler launch. Prior to the Firestone launch, we did a two-wheeler tyre launch as well this month. We are aiming at an addition of a further 2,000 dealerships across the length and breadth of India.

What are you plans for the extremely competitive two-wheeler segment?

The two-wheeler segment is growing very rapidly. Last year, we saw the total two-wheeler tyre demand reach 17 million at an annual level. We continue to see very strong demand in the market. We think it is the right time to bring the motorcycle and two-wheeler tyres into the market.

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