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.
Following Michelin’s acquisition of several retreaders in the USA last year forced Bandag, the largest competitor in that market, to take over some erstwhile franchises, we are now hearing of successes for Goodyear’s retreading system, Treadco. The retreading business of Oliver (Oliver is part of the Cooper-Group) seems to be suffering significantly under the growing pressure.
New lighter-weight run-flat tyres from Goodyear can be fitted as a $400 option on the 2002 Lexus SC 430 luxury performance car. Goodyear’s new Eagle F1 GS-D EMT run-flat tyre, in size 245/40ZR18, is able to run up to 100 miles at 55 mph with zero inflation pressure.
This year’s meeting of the German co-operation of independent tyre dealers under the umbrella of the retail brand “premio” had as its motto “time for take off”. Round about 125 outlets are members, with only a few having more than one service station. The downside of the premio network is that the “brand premio” is not well-known among end users. One reason for this is the fact that the chain is relatively young, about five years old. Of course a brand would be more popular if it were spread all over the country or – as service provider Goodyear would say – if more stations are on the net. But the premio managers are realistic, and it is not possible to grow by leaps and bounds. The competitors among the other groups of tyre dealers have restricted the market. And of course sometimes a member leaves the group after selling his business. Premio is part of the controlled distribution network of Goodyear in Germany which today covers round about 600 outlets. Premio wants one day to be what the group managers call the “lighthouse of the market”. Because the quantity targets have to be limited, Premio wants to be the best in terms of quality. In all criteria of an independent customer satisfaction analysis Premio performed better and even much better than the competitors – in all but two aspects, that is and these two were brand awareness and prices for endusers. It is hard to become the best in the market, but it is also hard to stay the best. How does it work? The best way is to continue to improve and optimise the modules of the system which the Premio Centre in the Goodyear headquarters makes available for the members. They not only try to develop new modules but also have to decide whether some of the older modules are no longer relevant. With more than 50 (!) modules the Premio offer is a leading player; taking just one of the modules available, the new software solution for the tyre trade called “tiresoft II” may well be the most modern in the market.
Despite the admission of chairman and CEO Samir G. Gibara that Goodyear’s 4Q results were “disappointing”, some financial analysts have recommended the company’s shares as a “buy”. The results were better than forecast, plus the analysts are confident that Goodyear will start to turn things around before long.
On the eve of the Paris Air Show, Goodyear announced that it was to triple production of radial aircraft tyres at its plant in Danville, USA, where the company has recently invested $10 million. The production increase is in response to growing demand due to increasing radialisation in the aircraft tyre sector, although bias-ply tyres still make up the majority of this market. The radials will fit military and private planes, as well as commercial aircraft such as the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320.
Only a few weeks before the start of the Agritechnica fair, Goodyear presents its brand new “Optitrac DT818” and “Optitrac DT824” tyres – the latest additions to the Optitrac family of agricultural tyres, to which the super volume tyre DT830, introduced at the end of last year, also belongs. The DT818 is the family’s super-wide tyre, created primarily for use on today’s higher horsepower tractors with large implements. According to the tyre manufacturer, the DT824 is the perfect choice for very heavy machinery including harvesters and combines. Both tyres hold a much greater volume of air than standard-width tyres, and, because they are wider, have a much larger “footprint”. The weight is distributed over a greater surface area, reducing the pressure at any single point and minimising soil compaction which has negative effects on the plants‘ development. The DT818 and DT824 have also been designed for optimal traction in all types of weather. They feature deeper, more powerful curved lugs for greater draw-bar pull and broad square shoulders provide extra grip. The tread area between the lugs has been specially shaped for better self-cleaning of the tyres. During the presentation of the new tyres Serge Daleiden, responsible for the farm tyre division in Europe at Goodyear, mentioned that future developments in the farm tyre sector could possibly also include the company’s BioTred technology. “This is not a promise, just an idea”, said Daleiden.
In discussions with analysts from the DB Group, Goodyear management expressed optimism that it might achieve a larger slice of OE business from the Detroit car manufacturers, at the expense of Firestone. Goodyear said it had received an order from Ford for 1.8 million tyres and is hoping for another big order from General Motors. Spokesmen from Goodyear said that they would resist Chrysler’s request for price reductions in order to overcome the difficult situation at Chrysler. At the end of January, many contracts between Firestone and its dealers expire and Goodyear is confident of winning over many of these dealers. On the other hand, Goodyear admits that the medium and heavy truck business will remain difficult during 2001. All in all, the analysts see more positives than negative risks at the moment, but they did not recommend Goodyear shares.
Goodyear has announced a reshuffle at its European businesses. Sylvain G. Valensi, the outgoing president of the European Union business unit, will be on special assignment, reporting directly to Robert Keegan, Goodyear’s president and COE. Valensi will be replaced by Michael J. Roney, who transfers from the Eastern Europe, Africa and Middle East Business Unit. Roney is in turn replaced by Jarro F. Kaplan, who previously held the post of managing director for Goodyear UK, and latterly of Goodyear Germany. Both Roney and Kaplan will report directly to Robert Keegan.
There are reports that Goodyear is planning to return to the Indy Racing League and the Indianapolis 500 as the sole tyre supplier for the 2003 season. An earlier return is not possible, as Bridgestone/Firestone has an exclusive agreement until 2002.Goodyear has supplied tyres to the IRL in the past, but ceased in 1999.
On Thursday the 18th January , in response to a question from Mr. Peter Pike MP for Burnley, the Minister for Trade, Mr Richard Caborn announced that the Government was to “commission a competitive study to examine the entire rubber industry, and especially the tyre sector”. Peter Pike MP quoted cuts in tyre production in the UK (Michelin, Goodyear, Dunlop, Continental) and advised the Minister that there was concern in his constituency, Burnley, home of a Michelin plant, for the future of the Tyre industry in the UK. The Minister responded with figures showing overall tyre production standing at £1 billion, and exports at £800 million, and some 8,000 people still employed directly in the tyre manufacturing industry. He added that with electronics playing an increasing part in production we (the government) wanted to ensure the country was at the leading edge of technology, and quoted Pirelli’s new robotics line as evidence the UK Tyre industry has a future. Sir Sydney Chapman MP for Chipping Barnet asked whether, given the sharp decline of the Euro against Sterling should the government not have eased the tax and regulatory burden on the industry? The Minister’s response was that the government’s policies had been welcomed by the industry; that three of the five major tyre manufacturers were operational in the UK and that they were “looking to the government to give a lead on a foresight programme to develop new technology for those industries”. He added that the standing of the Euro had had little or no effect on the global re-organisation of the tyre manufacturers. In a follow-on question, Barry Sheerman MP for Huddersfield asked if the Minister thought that if a multinational closed down a UK operation, that the UK consumer should be encouraged to be discriminatory about the products he or she buys, to favour UK industries. In response the Minister stated that he did not think this to be an acceptable way forward, that “the way forward was to expand the global economy in a managed way that will produce a good result for the consumer”.
Ford and Goodyear made arrangements to allow Ford customers to obtain Ford-approved replacements for Firestone Wilderness AT tires at no charge to the customer. In addition, the tire manufacturer is making arrangements to ensure adequate availability of Goodyear tires at Ford and Mercury dealerships through its own network of independent tire dealers and Goodyear company-owned stores. Goodyear has increased tire production significantly at seven North American manufacturing plants to make tires available for use in the replacement program.
Tyre importer, Hankook Tire America has joined Goodyear, Michelin, and Bridgestone in donating funds to assist the victims of the terrorist attacks on the 11th September. 100,000 dollars are being donated to the American Red Cross.
The Corporate Design Foundation has named the Goodyear blimps a “business and design classic”; an accolade bestowed in the past on such well-known icons as the paper clip and the Coca-Cola bottle. Every year in the USA, the Goodyear blimp is seen live by 60 million people at sporting events, and by millions more on TV.
In order to expand its approach to marketing Michelin North America is reviewing its US advertising policy and will be evaluating new agencies after a 17 year relationship with New York agency DBB. At the same time Goodyear are set to increase world-wide advertising spend by 30 per cent. The annual advertising spend for Goodyear is estimated to be $60m.
That the heavy truck tyre business is changing dramatically at all levels cannot be denied. Tyre dealers doing this business almost as a sideline in their local markets are facing a decrease but they are not too sad about this development because it is becoming harder and harder to earn money with truck tyres. This sector of business is decreasing because, for hauliers and their fleets, an enormous process of consolidation is taking place. In the future we will have tyre dealers saying good-bye to the truck tyre business and tyre dealers being strong in car and truck tyres. The media predict that goods traffic will increase significantly in coming years. Tranportation by waterway, railroad and especially road haulage will grow. But that might be a scenario for the longer term, because now we can read predictions of lower new truck registrations of about ten percent this year, and also next, in most European countries. But the stock lists seem to be stable because hauliers use their trucks longer (although they would prefer to buy a new one but it is too expensive) and modern trucks have a greater life expectancy than previously. The truck market is undergoing a process of structural changes. Mega fleets have arisen, absorbing a lot of the medium-sized and small hauliers. For the big fleets the four premium tyre brands Michelin, Continental, Bridgestone and Goodyear dominate. Their second brands are cheaper but good quality nevertheless. At the budget tyre level, brands like Toyo, Hankook or Marshal compete with the third brands of the four big market players for 15 percent of the market.
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