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Firestone taps U.S. CEO
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October 10, 2000: 4:57 p.m. ET
Lampe named to succeed Ono; recall cost to increase by $100 million
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. tapped marketing chief John Lampe to replace Masatoshi Ono as the new chief executive of Firestone Tuesday. Firestone is pinning its hopes for a recovery from the recall of 6.5 million tires on the man who stood up to Ford Motor Co. at congressional hearings and is well respected on Wall Street.
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CNN's Kelli Arena reports from Washington on John Lampe, incoming CEO of Bridgestone/Firestone Inc.
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Yoichiro Kaizaki, president of Japanese tire maker Bridgestone Corp., named Lampe chairman and CEO of its U.S. unit Tuesday in a videotaped statement during a press conference at the company's U.S. headquarters in Nashville, Tenn.
In his first session with reporters as the new CEO, Lampe said the recall would cost the company an additional $100 million beyond the initial $350 million loss it originally projected.
Lampe succeeds Ono, who spent Monday giving a seven-hour deposition in one of the civil suits filed against the company.
 "I want my first act as the new CEO to be a sincere apology to those who have suffered personal losses, or who have had problems with Firestone tires," Lampe said. "We can debate over cause and responsibility, for there is much that is not known. But that does not change the fact that there have been tragic accidents, and for this I am deeply sorry."
Kaizaki also named Bridgestone veteran Isao Togashi, the company's head of manufacturing and development for U.S. operations, as the company's head of manufacturing.
Ono is voluntarily retiring and was not ordered by Kaizaki to step down, the source told CNN.
Firestone recalled the tires Aug. 9 after dozens of reports that they were prone to shred and cause deadly highway accidents. U.S. regulators have received reports of 101 deaths linked to tire failure in the U.S. along with more than 400 injuries and 50 deaths overseas. The problem has caused a major rift between Firestone and Ford Motor Co. Most of the tires were mounted on Ford Explorer SUVs, and Ford officials have continued to blame Firestone for the problems.
Click here for full coverage of the tire recall
Ford and Firestone also face potential criminal charges in Venezuela due to problems there.
Ford issued a terse two-line statement Tuesday in response to Lampe's appointment.
"Ford Motor Company's number one priority is getting good tires to our customers. We expect Mr. Lampe and his team to support those efforts," Carlos Mazzorin, Ford's group vice president for global purchasing said.
Lampe a seasoned veteran
Lampe has testified before various congressional committees investigating the recall, sometimes in addition to Ono, sometimes by himself. While he has admitted to investigators that Bridgestone/Firestone made defective tires, he also stepped up the company's criticism of Ford Motor Co. (F: Research, Estimates), the automaker most affected by the tire failures and fatal accidents. He charged that the design of Ford's popular Explorer is part of the cause of the safety problem.
A native of Wellington, Kan., the 53-year-old Lampe joined Firestone's International Division in 1973, working his way up to became the company's Far East export field representative based in Singapore two years later.
In 1977, Lampe moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, to become senior export representative for Northern Europe. The following year he returned to the United States to become export manager.
During the 1980s he held various export and sales management positions in Spain, Costa Rica and Brazil before returning to the Akron, Ohio, sales and marketing headquarters in 1988 to take charge of the sales and marketing operations of Bridgestone/Firestone's associate and private brand division. That same year, Japan's Bridgestone Corp. bought the company.
In July of 1991, he moved to Oklahoma City to become president of a separate business unit, Dayton Tire Co.
In 1995 Lampe was appointed president of Bridgestone/Firestone Tire Sales Company and executive vice president and member of the board of directors for Bridgestone/Firestone.
Marvin Bozarth, executive director of the International Tire and Rubber Association Inc., a Louisville, Ky., trade group, said he has known Lampe for 10 years and that he is a good choice for the top spot.
Answering questions following the announcement, Lampe said the company would not abandon the Firestone brand and reiterated that Ford shares the responsibility for the recall.
 He cited a Washington Post analysis of crash tests, published Monday, that said the Explorer, the nation's best-selling sport/utility vehicle, crashed four times as often as other SUVs after tire failures, both including and excluding the Firestone brand, the Post said.
"I believe in my company. I believe in the people within my company. I believe in our customers and dealers," Lampe said. "The other thing we must remember is that there have been a number of Ford Explorer accidents and rollovers that were alleged to have been caused by Firestone. To say that this is just a tire problem is not right."
Ford executives were quick to refute those statements Tuesday. Jason Vines, a spokesman for the auto maker said Tuesday the report was completely wrong and that data from both Goodyear (GT: Research, Estimates) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration prove that there have been no fatalities or accidents on Explorers equipped with Goodyear tires.
"If Mr. Lampe is basing his defense of Firestone tires on that 100 percent wrong Washington Post story, he's started his first day on the job on a very poor note," Vines said.
A three-pronged approach
Lampe announced a three-pronged approach to turning the company around and regain the trust of customers and automakers. The approach includes accelerating the recall effort to complete it by November, assembling a new management team and coming up with more effective ways to collect and analyze product performance data.
Lampe has a solid track record among Wall Street analysts who respect him as a strong, hands-on manager. But some are skeptical that even as strong a candidate at Lampe may not be enough to help dig the company out of its hole.
"He's an obvious choice. He's head of marketing and customer interface, he's the most senior ranking American executive with a relatively high profile with the press," David Bradley, an auto analyst with J.P. Morgan said.
But Bradley said the recall is likely to haunt Bridgestone/Firestone for the next decade and that he is doubtful about whether Ford or other auto manufacturers will continue to use the company as a tire supplier in the future.
Bradley also said Bridgestone/Firestone has still failed to accept full responsibility for the recall as evidenced by Lampe's statement that Ford shared the blame because of the design of its Explorers.
"I guess I somewhat question Bridgestone's strategy to blame Ford and their refusal to acknowledge the magnitude of the problem. They said it's a tiny fraction of their tires that were affected, but people have died," Bradley said.
Ono shoulders responsibility
Ono accepted personal responsibility for the recall during his congressional testimony. The recall has become one of the biggest product liability crises in the United States in years.
 Britt Beemer, consumer pollster and chairman of America's Research Group, said Ono's replacement is not surprising given the embarrassment the recall caused the Japanese company, where other matters take a back seat to getting the product to market on time.
"There's no doubt in my mind that the day that the CEO from Bridgestone/Firestone was put on the air to apologize for this, it would be the very last day that that person would be working there," Beemer said. "For a Japanese executive to go that far and assume the responsibility really is tantamount to saying, 'I've caused all these problems with my bad management style,' and that's why I think you'll see somebody go into Bridgestone and I'll bet he'll make huge changes."
Shares of Bridgestone lost 5 yen to stand at 1,197 yen in Tokyo trading Tuesday.
Shares of Ford closed down 56 cents to $25.31. 
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