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.
Goodyear and Dunlop truck tyre customers across Europe will shortly benefit from a major improvement in service through the direct delivery of products from the company’s plants in Germany and Luxembourg. Customers will benefit from reliable on-time deliveries, a vital element of successful tyre management planning.
Eurofleet, Bandag’s pan-European fleet service, has lost its largest contract to Goodyear, according to informed sources. The news is a severe blow for the company as the account in question, a full service tyre contract with GE-TIP (General Electric Equipment Services – Transport International Pool), covered roughly 35,000 vehicles and accounted for 50 per cent of Eurofleet’s revenue.
Now that Goodyear has taken over the contract, Tyres & Accessories has learnt that the company will mostly supply its retreaded products to all 69,000 of GE-TIP’s trailers. During the course of the new three-year deal Goodyear is expected to supply 40,000 new and retreaded tyres through its Truck Force network every year. While the majority of these will be hot-cure products, the company will also provide Goodyear and Dunlop new tyres as OE to the fleet’s new trailer purchases.
Goodyear has warned motorists to consider the ‘whole life’ performance of tyres to ensure they are getting the optimum safety and performance in all weather conditions throughout the life of their tyres. The manufacturer says that the difference in tyre performance when worn is even greater than when new and is lobbying for more independent testing on tyres at various stages of their lives. The timing of Goodyear’s announcement follows claims from Michelin that TUV tests found its new Primacy HP tyres perform 25 per cent better when worn than any other premium product.
In an independent test of new tyres, Goodyear reports that its HydraGrip outperformed Michelin’s Pilot Primacy and Pirelli’s P6 in a 50mph wet emergency stop test. According to the manufacturer the independent test found that the Hydragrip-equipped car came to a standstill three metres earlier than its competitors. The tyre is said to have outperformed the Bridgestone Turanza by as much as 10 metres.
Concern amongst Goodyear Dunlop Germany employees is growing as rumours abound about the future direction of the company. Talk of the possible consequences is said to be weighing down on employees, resulting in a difficult working atmosphere.
The word is that Goodyear is planning to change its organisational structure in Germany at some point in the near future. The reorganisation is expected to bring the legally independent Goodyear, Fulda, Dunlop, M-Plus (associated brands) and GDHS (trade) businesses together under one roof, in a similar way to Continental’s profit centre model. If and when this happens, it is not only the managing directors who stand to lose some of their influence. There are also question marks over jobs in Hanau, Fulda and Cologne. The company’s car dealership and truck tyre businesses are already run on an integrated basis.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is to increase its consumer, commercial vehicle and OTR tyre prices by 4 per cent. The increases will cover all brands and were reportedly caused by escalating raw material costs. The announcement takes effect from 1 April.
This week sees the return of Goodyear on TV for the second successive year in the UK. Once again the campaign focuses on Goodyear’s firsts in innovation – from the first tyre on the moon, up to the present day RunOnFlat concept – the TV campaign allows Goodyear to reach millions of UK households with a clear brand message, focused on a clearly defined target consumer.
Due to very weak North American tyre demand in the first quarter 2006 Deutsche Bank recommends its sell rating for Goodyear shares and put Cooper stock on “Hold.”
Cooper’s recent 2005 results may have shown full-year losses, but they also show that the company’s inventories would have been $125.6 million (41 per cent) higher “had they used FIFO instead of LIFO.” The results have implications on the way other company’s results are interpreted. “As a result, we would expect a substantial earnings impact from raw material cost inflation in the quarters ahead,” Deutsche Bank analysts said referring to Goodyear.
Last week Continental shares reached a new high of 86.51 euros while the competitors Toyo (-7%), Yokohama (-6%) and Nokian (-5%) lost ground. Michelin, by comparison, has remained stable at around 50 euros. Goodyear started a downswing at the end of February from more than 15 euros to 11 euros and is in danger of falling below 10 euros in the near future.
(Akron/Tire Review) SURE Tire has added Goodyear’s new Fierce brand of performance tire to its product portfolio. As a result, SURE said it will phase out its Essenza private brand. SURE members learned of the addition at the group’s recent shareholders meeting.
Following the announcement that Christian Salvesen would take on warehousing and distribution deals with two of the UK’s leading tyre companies, Tyres & Accessories took the opportunity to speak to Continental’s supply chain manager, Stuart Jackson, and asked what the company had to gain from working with a competing manufacturer.
It is received wisdom that the vast majority of 4×4 vehicles never leave the tarmac, let alone spend weekends up to their axles in mud, yet image is still very important. Drivers like their vehicles to look as though they could tackle Mt. Everest on a winter’s day, even if their most taxing journey is the school run.
Tyres play an important part in this image creation – aggressive, knobbly tyres certainly look the part but, says Goodyear, fitting these tyres just for their looks can be counter-productive. While many 4×4 drivers want their vehicles to look tough and rugged, they actually want on-road performance similar to that of an ordinary saloon car.
This week marks the production of the 4 millionth RunOnFlat tyre produced by the Goodyear Dunlop group in Europe. Goodyear RunOnFlat tyres are built at the company’s plant in Fulda, Germany, while Dunlop RunOnFlats are built in Hanau and Furstenwalde, Germany.
(Akron/Tire Review) Penske Truck Leasing Co. tapped Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company as its top supplier for 2005, the seventh straight time it has claimed the honour. Goodyear was rated first among all suppliers according to Penske’s quality rating system. Goodyear provides Penske with replacement and retread medium truck tyres in North America, as well as fleet management services.
The Al-Dobowi Group has announced plans to participate in the 11th International Automotive Aftermarket ‘AAME 2006’ scheduled to be held from 20 – 22 March 2006 at the Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai, UAE. The Middle East’s Automotive Industry is estimated to be worth around 18 billion dirhams (£2.8 billion, 4.1 billion euros).
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