Bridgestone signs $110m First deal

Bridgestone is celebrating the largest commercial fleet contract win in its history, having secured a $110m, five year deal with FirstGroup. The contract will see the tyre manufacturer supply tyres to over 60,000 of the operator’s buses and coaches in the USA, Canada and the UK. As part of the agreement,º Bridgestone will provide tyres for all of FirstGroup’s vehicles in the UK and around 80% of its operations in the US and Canada. The fleet will predominantly run on UAP-001 tyres, featuring different tread patterns unique to each market.

Commercial Sales Director for Bridgestone, Greg Ward, said, ‘This is a hugely significant announcement for the whole team at Bridgestone and a partnership that we’re extremely proud of. To win the contract, we needed to demonstrate our value and ability to deliver on a global level in order to stave off stiff competition from a rival premium tyre manufacturer. We had a strong goal to become the number one supplier to FirstGroup and, as such, we demonstrated an ability to act as a global company with a ‘one team’ philosophy, meaning that the geographical distance between our US and UK teams was never an issue.’

Group Procurement Manager for FirstGroup, Glen Lovett, said, ‘We are delighted to have agreed this global contract with Bridgestone. Having first begun working together through a fleet agreement in Leicester in 2004, we have seen significant achievements and built up a solid working relationship over many years. Many organisations, whilst global in nature, retain a regionalised market focus but Bridgestone were able to engage with FirstGroup on a global basis, enabling us to leverage our size and scale. This agreement will provide the flexibility that we need to manage a huge fleet of vehicles on both sides of the Atlantic, including our local buses, coach services, and school transportation.’

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