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 Dunlop has launched a website and related Twitter feed to provide fuel efficiency information to fleets. The site will offer the company’s tips on saving fuel, best practice case studies in green fleet management, and details on Goodyear Dunlop’s upcoming fleet symposium ‘Driving fuel efficiency in Europe’s road freight transport’. The event will take place in Brussels, Belgium on 25 January.
Independent East Midlands tyre distributor Tanvic Group Ltd operates from eight locations in Newark (its head office), Lincoln, Grantham, Corby, Melton Mowbray, Loughborough, Worksop and Market Harborough. Though Tanvic says it recognises the market has contracted over the last few years, it has met this challenge by increasing the specialist knowledge of its staff, attempting to add value to the service it offers farm customers.
Major agricultural tyre supplier to the UK market, Kings Road Tyres boasts a £5 million inventory of agricultural tyres, making it the country’s foremost trade supplier for this specialist sector, according to KRT. The wholesaler is the official wholesale distributor for major manufacturers Michelin, Firestone, Trelleborg and Goodyear as well as being the exclusive UK wholesaler of both the Taurus and Jetire brands, and its private brand range of Kingstone brand tubes. In addition the line-up has recently been further extended by the addition of Kleber in 2011.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has received plaudits from American consumer magazine, Consumers Digest in its January/February 2012 issue. In the “All-Season Car Tires” category, Goodyear’s Assurance TripleTred All-Season was the editors’ selected Premium tyre, receiving “Best Buy” designation. The company’s Assurance ComforTred Touring was awarded a Best Buy label in the “Touring Car Tires” category.
MAM Software Ltd has appointed Malcolm Hazard as senior sales manager – tyres, responsible for the management of MAM's tyre industry solutions. The appointment sees MAM further expand its team of industry experts to meet the growing demand for its innovative software applications.
During a press conference at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, Michelin North America’s recently appointed chairman and president Pete Selleck introduced the tyre maker’s latest product for a North America still feeling the effect of what some have dubbed the “Great Recession”. Called the Defender, the new passenger car range has been described by Selleck as a “product that meets the demands of Americans who are enduring difficult economic times and are insisting on top value for their money in a way not seen for decades.”
Throughout 2011, the Freight Transport Association (FTA) conducted research to analyse the defects that in-service Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) have. The results, which were collected over four, two-week periods, revealed over 1,000 tyre defects on the 6,000 vehicles inspected.
The FTA is one of the UK's largest trade associations and represents the transport interests of companies moving goods by road, rail, sea and air. For over 45 years FTA's Vehicle Inspection Service has been supporting companies by inspecting and auditing the safety, legality and overall performance of their commercial vehicles, related equipment and general maintenance arrangements, to ensure that fleets operate to a consistently high, UK standard.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has announced that it will webcast its presentation at the 2012 Deutsche Bank Global Auto Industry Conference in Detroit, Michigan, on 10 January. Darren R. Wells, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will provide a business overview and discuss the company’s strategies for approximately 40 minutes.
Consumer advice magazine Which? has completed an extensive winter tyre test in the Alps, taking into account six sizes. Each tyre was given a percentage score and ranked accordingly in its size division. In addition, the magazine presented a star rating out of five in each category it tested, namely: dry braking, dry handling, wet braking, wet handling, braking on snow, traction on snow, cornering on snow, braking on ice, cornering on ice, fuel economy, noise and wear. The full list of Which? magazine’s “best buys” – and the winter tyres it suggests its readers to avoid – is presented below.
Getting things done quietly has never been Titan International's strong suit, so the fact the firm apparently bought out two companies back in September may come as something of a surprise. Tire Review reports that Titan acquired tyre and retread mould maker Ohio Machine & Manufacturing Co. and wheel production equipment maker Automation International Inc. Both deals closed in September, according to chairman and CEO Morry Taylor, who disclosed the deals during a 13 December telephone presentation to financial analysts.
New blood has been injected into Goodyear’s North American leadership. John F. “Jack” Winterton has been appointed president of the company’s North American Tire consumer business unit and Phillip Kane has taken over as vice-president of the Goodyear’s North American Tire commercial tyre business. Both appointments, Goodyear comments, are effective immediately and intended to “continue the positive momentum in the company’s North American Tire business.”
Goodyear Dunlop has launched a new courtesy car scheme across its HiQ retail network. HiQ centres meeting their targets will be able to provide customers with a Fiat 500 Lounge car as a strategic retail incentive. Each vehicle will sport individualised HiQ garage information on its side. Goodyear Dunlop’s consumer director, Juergen Titz said: “We see this as a fantastic opportunity to provide added value for customers and is an example of the commitment and support that underpins our retail partner programme with HiQ.”
Alan Baldwin, wholesale director at Micheldever Tyre Services, has praised Goodyear Dunlop UK’s recent part worn information initiative “in the strongest possible way.” Speaking to Tyres & Accessories, Baldwin highlighted what he called “their excellent initiative in exposing the dangers of part worn tyres to the consumer”.
He continued: “Amongst all the tyre manufacturers, Goodyear has clearly grasped the horrendous dangers of what the almost totally un-policed and dangerous part worn market means to the consumers safety and pockets…Goodyear’s excellent flyer (“The Ugly Truth about Part Worns) is the best information a consumer could be given and should be applauded by the entire industry.”
Goodyear has given word that its Eagle F1 Supercar has been selected as original equipment on the 2012 Dodge Charger SRT8 Super Bee, which will begin arriving at dealers in the US early next year. In announcing the tyre’s supply, Goodyear commented that the “ultra-performance tread compound on Goodyear's Eagle F1 Supercar tyre helps provide exceptional dry traction and cornering grip to the 470-horsepower automobile.” Goodyear has not given specifics on tyre dimensions.
Earlier in the week Goodyear warned of potential aviation tyre shortages due to flooding in Thailand knocking its plant there out of action; it appears Goodyear is not the only tyre maker suffering as a result of the flooding. The Bangkok Post reports that Michelin dealers in flood-affected areas – 12 per cent of the more than 400 dealers nationwide – have ceased operating, and this is expected to be seen in the tyre maker’s Thailand sales figures this year.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
