Bridgestone Firestone today announced it will levy price increases of up to 8% on truck, bus, agricultural and off-road tires in U.S. and Canadian markets starting on Nov 1. The price increases will affect its replacement, OE and export channels.
Tire makers have been increasing prices to pass on the rising costs of their energy-intensive manufacturing process. On Sept. 1, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. increased dealer prices on commercial truck tires, which may or may not be passed on to the retail level, by as much as 5% to address energy costs. A Goodyear spokesperson told FleetOwner that the company has no further plans to raise prices at this time.
Michelin, which had also implemented price increases in response to energy prices, was contacted but had not responded by press time.
“Our tire companies are facing dramatic increases in raw material costs,” said Duke Nishiyama, president of Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc. “The astronomical increases in petroleum prices are driving up the cost of synthetic rubber and carbon black. That, combined with rising natural gas costs and natural rubber prices, has given us no choice but to take this action. Unfortunately, these dramatic raw material cost increases simply can not be offset by the enhanced efficiencies and increased productivity that we have implemented at all levels of our company.”
“Tire prices have been going up with the price of crude oil,” Dave Wilkins, Goodyear spokesperson told FleetOwner. “Every time a barrel of crude oil goes up a dollar, our costs go up $20 million. Transportation costs are impacting us as well.”
