Kelly Brand Remains Strong, Goodyear Tells Dealers

(Akron/Tire Review) Despite rumours floating around the SEMA Show floor last week, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. says it remains fully committed to its Kelly-Springfield brand and Kelly dealers. Goodyear said any rumours to the contrary “are simply not true.” “Goodyear believes, as do its dealers, that the Kelly brand is a very strong and viable brand,” and that it “retains appeal with consumers, and is widely known in many regional markets and with our dealers.”

The tyremaker said that in recent years it has developed many new Kelly brand products, as well as support materials and programs for its Kelly dealers. The rumours apparently began surfacing prior to the SEMA Show and just after the United Steelworkers went on strike against Goodyear’s North American plants. Goodyear said it recently sent a letter to all of its Kelly dealers in an effort to quell the rumours.

Up until the 1990s the Kelly brand was also popular across a number of key European markets.