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 has won new and extended contracts for off-the-road tyres from the US Army, valued at $16 m. One is an $11.5 m deal to supply AT-2A traction tyres (size 14.00R20) for five-ton cargo trucks. The extended contract is for $4.5 m to supply the same tyres in size 16.00R20.
At a dealer conference in Las Vegas, Goodyear Chief Gibara explained to an audience of 4,500 tyre people the need for consolidation in 2000, following the recent aggressive expansion strategy. Gibara pointed out the importance of the personal touch despite the fast growth of e-commerce and the Internet. The fill-rate problem will be improved through shipments from Latin America, Eastern Europe and Turkey for the US replacement market.
Three Goodyear plants have become the first sites in the world to be certified under the new global ISO Technical Specification 16949. The plants are Fulda (Germany), Amiens (France) and the Luxembourg Technical Centre. TS 16949 is expected to be recognised as a standard by all car manufacturers worldwide.
Chevrolet is calling its 2001 Corvette Z06 “a production vehicle that’s ready for the racetrack.” The P265/40ZR17 (front) and P295/35ZR18 (rear) Eagle F1 Supercar tyres weigh 23.4 pounds less than the run-flat tyres. The weight savings comes from removing the run-flat reinforcements as well as using lighter weight internal components.
A case has been brought against Goodyear and M&T Inc, the owner of a local Big O Tire store. The widows of three men killed in a rollover claim that the Kelly Springfield Metric Radial suffered a tread separation, resulting in the deaths of their husbands. It is not clear whether the action has been pending, or whether this case has been brought subsequent to the Bridgestone/Firestone recall.
Last weekend, Team Kooperation held its 4th annual meeting in Kassel. A special exhibition was held alongside the event in the Stadthalle Kassel which attracted such names as Bridgestone, Conti, Goodyear, Michelin and Pirelli, displaying their group brands. Some high-powered managers attended the event too; Bandag’s Martin Carver flew over specially from the USA. An important milestone was the planned merger between VRG and Team. The Kooperation has its own private brand for passenger and commercial tyres, made for it by the Conti group. Team’s aim is to expand not only nationally, but on a Pan-European basis, attracting enough members to give the group ample coverage of the markets.
Earlier in the year we reported that truck tyre production was to stop at the Fort Dunlop factory in Birmingham, UK. There was another devastating blow for the ageing plant when it was announced that car and van tyre production will be phased out by the end of the year. This will lead to 600 job losses, on top of the 650 redundancies earlier in the year. When all the losses have been implemented, the workforce at Fort Dunlop will have fallen from 1,700 to 500 inside twelve months. The latest move is as a result of Goodyear’s review of operations, following the joint venture with Sumitomo and has been blamed on over-production, the strength of Sterling and a reduction in domestic car production. Dunlop brand car and van tyres will continue to be manufactured at the company’s more modern factory in Washington in the North East of England as well as other European factories in the Goodyear group. Production at Washington will increase from six days a week to seven. Around 12,600 car tyres are manufactured daily at the plant. With truck, car and van tyre production gone from the Fort, that only leaves motorsports tyres, of which a mere 250,000 are made a year. The article in TYRES & ACCESSORIES 6/2000 outlines local reaction to the news and ends with the possibility of further bad news, as Goodyear is reported as saying that “substantial” further restructuring is still needed.
Goodyear can at last draw a deep breath, at least for the time being. The provisional results of the investigating authorities suggest that it was debris on the runway which destroyed the tyre, thus setting off the tragic chain of events which occurred on take-off.
Goodyear announced that the firm had received notice from the National Highways Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) to a preliminary investigation into its Load Range E light commercial tyres. This follows on from a number of complaints and issues raised as a consequence of a New Jersey court case being defended by Goodyear. The lawyers for the plaintiff claim that Goodyear has been aware of a problem with the Load Range E and has been conducting a “silent recall”, both allegations being vehemently denied by the tyre company.
The sharp drop in prices of Goodyear shares over the past three months has put extreme pressure on Goodyear’s top management. Possible reasons for the drop include increased raw material costs and apprehension among shareholders that the Dunlop acquisition could have a negative impact on results in the year 2000.
The Austrian Dunlop and Goodyear companies have been integrated into the new Goodyear Dunlop Tires Austria company, which is under 100 p.c. ownership of Goodyear Dunlop Tires Europe B.V. located in Brussels.
Tyre giants Michelin and Goodyear are to work together in the future on their run-flat systems PAX and EMT. A joint venture company has been formed, based in the Netherlands.
In a survey in the US, it seems that OE pull-through is an important factor and that the tyre recall has – according to Goodyear – stimulated interest in tyres. Before the recall, 36.7 per cent of respondents said they would choose Goodyear tyres and 21.4 per cent Firestones. During the recall, these figures changed to 55.2 per cent and 4.1 per cent respectively.
There is speculation among analysts that Michelin and Valeo could be dropped from the CAC 40. Continental has been ousted from the DAX Index and Goodyear from the Dow Jones Index recently.
Goodyear recently turned in a bullish report on its first quarter performance. The market was impressed, as the company’s shares rose 47% from its 52-week low in March. Industry analysts predict a good performance from Goodyear in the short term, with shares rising further.
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