NASHVILLE, Tenn. (May 24, 2001)–Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. is “very confident” that it will be utilizing all the production capacity freed up by dropping Ford Motor Co. as an original equipment customer, according to a BFS spokeswoman.
“You have to remember that our Ford original equipment accounts were less than 5 percent of our revenues,” she said. “Also, we are very gratified by the rate of replacement sales we had through April. We've had very strong store and dealer support, and our other OEMs have also been very supportive.”
BFS announced it was severing all business ties with Ford May 21, the day before Ford announced it would replace 13 million Firestone Wilderness AT tires on its vehicles with tires from other manufacturers.