Founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Akron, Ohio. It is one of the oldest, biggest and best-known tyremakers in the world. Goodyear makes tyres for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, motorcycles, SUVs, racing cars, aeroplanes, farm equipment and heavy earth-mover machinery. Find all the news and analysis you need relating to Goodyear here.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has been named one of the Top 50 US companies for social responsibility by the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship and the Reputation Institute. The tyre manufacturing giant earned a rating of 74.4 in a survey of US consumers, leading to a ranking of 32nd on the 2010 Boston College Corporate Social Responsibility Index. Goodyear is the only company in the automotive or tire industries listed.
Goodyear has launched a new Dunlop SUV tyre line, aimed at mid-market SUVs and light trucks, Tire Review reports. The Dunlop Rover H/T, which replaces both the Dunlop Grandtrek AT 20 and the Dunlop Rover A/T, is now available to US and Canadian dealers. Officials said about half of the 33 total sizes are now available for shipment, with the remainder slated for early 2011 release.
A twelfth member has been added to the Board of Directors at Goodyear Tire & Rubber with the election of Peter S. Hellman, retired president of Nordson Corporation. In introducing the new board member, company chairman and chief executive officer Richard J. Kramer said “Peter Hellman is a respected leader with extensive leadership experience in successful international businesses. His wide-ranging experience and knowledge will be of significant value to our board of directors.”
Kumho Tire USA said it will increase pricing on all products in the US by up to 6.5 per cent. The increase, effective November 1, will include in-line adjustments. Kumho joins Hankook, Goodyear, Pirelli and Cooper, which have recently announced price hikes.
Goodyear Dunlop Tyres UK Limited has announced that Norbert Hecking, currently Market Supply Chain director Middle East and Africa, has been appointed as Market Supply Chain director UK & Ireland. Hecking joins the UK and Ireland organisation reporting to MD George Rietbergen and functionally to Rob Scholte, vice president Supply Chain Europe, Middle East and Africa. Hecking replaces Steve Carless, who will be leaving the company at the end of the year to pursue a new opportunity outside of the tyre industry.
An agreement has been reached between South African trade union Solidarity and the local Bridgestone, Continental, Dunlop and Goodyear operations. The union, which represents around 1,000 tyre industry workers in the bargaining council for the New Tyre Manufacturing Industry Association, released a statement on October 1 reporting the deal, which is being implemented retrospectively from July 1, 2010.
Goodyear Dunlop Tyres UK Ltd has announced the appointment of Peter Tye as retail director, including heading the company’s HiQ tyre and vehicle servicing network. Tye, who was previously franchise development manager, replaces Juergen Titz, who was appointed director of Goodyear Dunlop’s consumer tyre business unit last month.
Peter Tye joined Goodyear Dunlop in 2006 when the company relaunched and revitalised the HiQ brand, its service standards and franchise model. Before joining Goodyear Dunlop, he had 14 years franchising experience, most notably on the Volkswagen Group brands including Audi and Seat.
Strike action at Apollo, Continental and Goodyear’s factories in South Africa has ended and workers are scheduled to resume work on September 30. The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa says the month-long strike, which arose following stalled negotiations with New Tyre Manufacturing Industry Employers' Association, has been resolved following the decision to revise pay structures for tyre industry workers.
Goodyear Dunlop’s new consumer director, Juergen Titz, has made his first public appearance in the role, launching the recently revamped Kettering branch of HiQ alongside UK and Ireland managing director George Rietbergen. Titz suggested that he would open his tenure as consumer director with new strategies to improve the success of the company’s brand range, notably utilising its connection to HiQ. Following his spell as retail director for the fast fit network, a period described by the franchise as extremely successful, Titz was present at the launch to support HiQ’s biggest franchisee Chris Kisby, MD of Easy Tyre & Autocentres.
Following the recent tyre tests in Auto Express, Maxxis noted what the company brands a “grossly unfair” reaction in “some newspapers”, which suggested that budget tyres pose a threat to the lives of drivers and their passengers. Maxxis International’s managing director Derek McMartin released a statement to address the “sensationalist language” used to brand budget tyres “bottom of safety league”, pointing out that secondary reports had missed the complexity of Auto Express’s comprehensive testing and that the company’s MA-Z1 Drift had performed creditably in most areas despite being a road-legal speciality drifting tyre. The tyre was given a rating of 94.8 per cent of the winning Continental SportContact 3’s overall performance in the 2010 Auto Express Tyre Test.
Major American tyre-makers, Goodyear and Cooper have announced that they will raise North American retail prices by up to 6.5 per cent, tracking the continuing rise of raw material costs. Spokespeople for both companies told Bloomberg today that following the price rises implemented in June, materials such as rubber have continued to rise, making further hikes necessary.
Strife within the South African tyre industry continues with an estimated 4,000 workers expected to attend a protest march on September 20. NUMSA, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, has planned for the disgruntled employees to assemble at Jarhaman Hall in Korsten, Port Elizabeth to, as spokesman Mphumzi Maqungo explains, “hand over a memorandum of demands to tyre manufacturers' ruling oligarchy." According to Maqungo, the “throng” of workers anticipated to take part in the protest include those working for “imperialist owned Firestone, Continental and Goodyear.”
In an evaluation of 21 UHP summer tyres, US publication Consumer Reports has rated products from Goodyear, Dunlop and Michelin as being the pick of the bunch. Tyres from 19 different companies were put through their paces at Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center in Connecticut, with evaluations of braking, handling, hydroplaning, tread life, rolling resistance, and noise performed. An overall “excellent” score was given to the Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GT, Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 and Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric. Scoring just below the trio of victors was the Continental Extreme Contact DW and the Hankook Ventus V12 evo. Both of these tyres are lower priced products than the test winners, the Hankook “considerably” so.
V. Narayanan, former chairman of Goodyear India, died September 14 at his home in Chennai. He was 91.
Goodyear has announced the appointment of Jaime Cohen Szulc as president of its Latin American region. Szulc will report directly to Goodyear's chairman-elect, chief executive officer and president Richard J. Kramer. Szulc succeeds Eduardo A. Fortunato, 57, who earlier this year announced his intention to retire at the end of 2010.
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