Goodyear benefitting from tyre industry trends, says Kramer

During the company’s annual shareholder meeting yesterday, Richard Kramer stated that trends within the global tyre industry are playing to Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company’s strengths and its strategy to drive profitable growth. This growth, he added, is best represented within the consumer tyre business by the rising demand for tyres with 17-inch and larger rim diameters – the market for this segment has doubled since 2010 and is expected to double again by 2020.

“The accelerating shift to high-value-added tyres for both consumer vehicles and commercial trucks is the main product trend shaping the future of the tire industry,” stated the Goodyear chairman, chief executive officer and president.

Goodyear’s advantage over its competitors, Kramer said, is the company’s connected business model, which integrates its consumer-facing strengths – such as original equipment relationships and powerful marketing relationships – with its aligned distribution network. “Some tyre companies are strong in one or a few of these areas, but very few can manage all the elements of complexity within a connected business model like Goodyear.”

Other trends highlighted by Kramer were the complexity of supplying automakers due to the increasing variety of vehicle offerings and the changing expectations of technology-enabled consumers.

During the annual meeting, shareholders re-elected 13 members of the company’s Board of Directors to new one-year terms, approved Goodyear’s 2017 Performance Plan and voted to ratify the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company’s independent registered public accounting firm for 2017. A shareholder proposal to require that future board chairpersons be independent directors was not approved. In advisory votes, shareholders approved the compensation of the company’s named executive officers and continuing to hold that vote on an annual basis.          _sg