Is the Local Rubber Industry Tyred?
.
By Sheldon Trollope
INTERVIEWS WITH HEADS of companies can be fraught with politically correct repartee designed to give the singular impression that business is on the up and up,
even if this is not actually the case.
Not so with Shigeyoshi Takesue, Managing Director of Bridgestone Singapore, the official local importer and distributor of the world’s best-selling tyres. Bridgestone Singapore is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bridgestone Japan.
In a refreshingly candid interview, Mr Takesue reveals exclusively to CarBuyer that while sliding COE prices might spell good news in terms of piquing buyer interest, the opposite is the case for the tyre trade.
CarBuyer: Falling new car prices are resulting in an increase in the number of first time car shoppers and incidences of existing owners changing their cars. Why doesn’t this translate
to good news for your company?
Shigeyoshi Takesue: First let me say that it isn’t just Bridgestone that is finding the current climate tough, it’s happening to all tyre companies here. The problem is that the majority of car buyers don’t replace their tyres within the first one or even two years of getting their cars. With the market replacing their cars so quickly these days, many owners trade in or sell their cars before the tyres wear out. Sure, there are those who upgrade their wheels as soon as they take delivery of their car, but these are mostly enthusiasts who are very much in the minority.
CB: How do you plan on overcoming this situation?
ST: The key is to educate car owners about tyre performance and help them understand how big a role tyres play in the safety of their cars. We found that there are many drivers who don’t care about what kind of tyres their cars have or in what condition they’re in. To them, the tyres are just four round, black things on their car.
Every driver should be aware that while his or her car can have the best anti-lock brakes and the best electronic stability programmes in the world, all these safety aids are useless if the tyres do not grip properly.
If you think about it, the weight of the entire car and everyone in it comes down to just four postcard-sized patches on the road. When your life might one day, depend on these patches, you’ll be glad to have spent money on a quality tyre. Driving with a low quality tyre is like
rappelling down a cliff with a cheap rope.
CB: How do you plan on educating car owners about the importance of tyre safety?
ST: At the moment, we have to rely on our dealer network. We have a dedicated training room where our dealers are trained to educate owners about choosing the right types of tyres for their cars.
CB: How would a first time car owner know if the dealer they’re talking to is trying to sell them the right tyre or not?
ST: A good tyre dealer should first talk to the customer and try to find out what his driving habits are. Is he a high or low mileage driver? Is performance or comfort more important? After finding out information like this, the dealer can then make an informed recommendation to the customer and he will
find a tyre that will best suit his needs.
No one should buy a tyre just on price alone no matter if it is an expensive or cheap tyre.
CB: Some other tyre brands have launched region-specific tyres that are designed to handle our tropical conditions, but Bridgestone seems to offer the same tyre models all over the world. Take the recently launched RE050 for instance, is there any difference between the officially imported tyres and those that are parallel imported from another market?
ST: Although the RE050 is available in many markets, there are several grades of the same tyre which have different types of compounds and construction although they all are made in Japan.
The RE050 sold there has a different construction and compound to other countries. The version that we import for Singapore, is designed to perform in the hot and wet conditions you get here.