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 Wall Street Journal questioned whether Goodyear acted too slowly, or put cost before safety regarding the tyre problems in the USA. Samir Gibara, for Goodyear stated, “Our engineers determined that the tyres were not defective, so there was no recall”. The outcome of the case could have a serious effect on the way in which manufacturers introduce quality improvements to their ranges in future.
Eric A. Berg (37) – a former Pepsico Manager – has joined Goodyear as Vice President and Chief Information Officer. Berg will be responsible for Goodyear’s future success in E-Commerce.
Michelin has long been established as a leader in the European truck tyre retreading market with its famous Remix process, but now the French company has turned its attentions to the US retreading market, where it is causing quite a stir. The size of the market is enormous; according to the Tire Retread Information Bureau, in 1999 there were 18.1 million large truck retreads sold, compared with 15.7 million new truck tyres, and Michelin has announced its intention to double its market share, from 10.2% to 24.6% by the year 2002. The company has done this not through using the Remix process, but by cold cure retreading, forming Michelin Retread Technologies Inc. (MRTI) and signing up licensees. By March, Michelin had 37 such franchisees signed up and expects this figure to increase to fifty by the year end. As a comparison, Goodyear has some 167 truck tyre retreading partners in North America. Michelin’s cold cure retreading process is called Recamic and it uses rubber produced by Michelin. Like Remix, Recamic is promoted as a premium product. For those retreading partners who may be looking for something a little cheaper, Michelin produces Newlife, a less expensive alternative. The article in May’s TYRES & ACCESSORIES examines Michelin’s commitment to retreading, both in Europe and outside, and looks at the retread market itself.
In October last year the Goodyear blimp “Spirit of Akron” crashed in the Akron area. On August 10th a gust of wind damaged the gondola of the blimp “Spirit of the South Pacific” and on August the 20th the blimp “Stars & Stripes” crashed in Philadelphia. Nobody was hurt. “Stars & Stripes”, one of seven airships operated by the tyre manufacturer worldwide, will be rebuilt, says Goodyear. In the meantime, the company is examining other ways to fulfil its TV commitments, including hiring a blimp, helicopters and planes.
Goodyear has got on well with their “integrated truck service concept”, as stated by the group. Whereas, by the end of last year, 65 partners have been using this Goodyear service for commercialising truck tyres, the figure has currently raised up to 90, which means another step closer to the target of an area-wide service network in Germany. As estimated by Frank Titz, Manager Sales & Marketing Truck Tires at Goodyear Germany, around 150 service points will be necessary, of which 120 are already covered by their 90 partners. Because of continuing merging activities within the forwarding business, foreign markets have to be considered, too. “All big freight vehicle fleets are on the road all over Europe, so that service may not end at the frontiers”, Titz is explaining the motivation for the European-wide extension of the concept, named “Truck Force”. “By the end of 2001, we want to be represented at all main international traffic arteries, either from Portugal/Spain to Scandinavia and from France versus Eastern Europe.” Advantages are not only suggested for trade, but for Goodyear itself, of course. In fact, according to Titz, in Germany more than 50 per cent of all new truck tyres have been sold so far by their partners.
Sava, the Slovenian tyre manufacturer – 60 p.c. owned by the Goodyear group since 1998 – presented the “Effecta” to the public for the first time in mid-March. This S/T summer tyre, developed in cooperation with its European group headquarters in Luxembourg, a non-directional successor to the “Exact” line, is to be introduced in the market in 28 sizes, from 135/80 R 12 68 T to 185/65 R 15 88 T, by June this year. More than 300 tyre traders in total from 35 countries, among them far-flung places like Iceland or Lebanon, had assembled in the idyllic holiday resort of Bled to see the new Sava product launched. The German contingent consisted of about 50 members of Team, which markets all segments (car, light truck, truck) of the Sava brand exclusively in Germany. The new tyre is the first new product development since Goodyear took over almost two years ago. It derives directly from the Luxembourg research and development centre and is thus destined to represent Goodyear “state of the art” technology. What this means and how the “Effecta” could support Sava raising brand awareness in Western Europe which is one of the tyre manufacturer’s most important aims can be read in the April issue of NEUE REIFENZEITUNG.
In the first week of July Goodyear shares were down, while Bridgestone, Michelin and Toyo Tires were all winners. Only a short time before, at the end of June Goodyear and Michelin shares had gone down as well as car manufacturers Mazda, General Motors, Volkswagen and BMW lost drastically. Mid June almost the same situation: Goodyear going down (this time Bridgestone and Cooper too) leaving only Yokohama as a winner.
Popular German car magazine auto motor und sport tested ten M+S tyre brands size 195/65 R 15 on a BMW 323i. The test winners were Goodyear’s Ultra Grip 6 (“best tyre”) and Uniroyal’s MS Plus 55. These were followed by Dunlop’s SP Winter Sport M3, Continental’s WinterContact TS 790, Pirelli’s Winter 210 Snow Sport, Michelin’s Pilot Alpin, and Nokian’s Hakkapeliitta NRW. Those tyres which achieved only limited recommendation were Toyo’s Snowprox S 940 and Firestone’s FW 930, while last place in the test went to Yokohama’s Winter F 310 Plus.
Effective today, W. James Fish, formerly executive director of human resources customer operations at the Ford Motor Company, becomes Goodyear’s senior vice president, global human resources, reporting to Sam Gibara, chairman, chief executive officer and president
In the USA, Goodyear has announced that three new dedicated Dunlop tyre lines will be available from Goodyear and Gemini outlets. These are the Dunlop Citation, the Citation HP (both for passenger cars) and Dunlop Pioneer for 4×4 vehicles.
A San Francisco-based specialist law firm is exploring the possibility of filing a lawsuit against Goodyear in Ohio and is contacting dependants of the crash victims. Goodyear has been the exclusive tyre supplier for Air France Concordes since 1995. Therefore the which crashed recently was equipped with Goodyear tyres, too. Whether or not a blown tyre caused the disaster is still not known and a Goodyear spokesman said “it’s way too early to make any assumptions or comments”.
Goodyear and Cooper both plan price rises for car and light truck tyres in the United States. Price increases of around 5% are rumoured, mirroring Michelin’s proposed increases for the fourth quarter.
The Italian Goodyear factory should close in March. EU officials have criticized the American company for not considering the rights of the employees involved.
DaimlerChrysler has announced it will be fitting Goodyear Eagle tyres on its new PT Cruiser. The PT Cruiser, which combines the retro styling of the late 1930’s sedan with the versatility of a 2001 minivan, will be shod exclusively with Eagle LS tyres in North America and Eagle NCT5’s in Europe.195/65 15’s will be fitted on the front and 205/55 16’s on the rear. Tyres with European specification will be produced at Fulda and Phillipsburg.
Gottfried (“Geoff”) Hess (58), up till now President of Goodyear Indonesia, is returning to Germany as head of finance for Goodyear and Dunlop in Germany.
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