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.
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.
In Kenya, Goodyear has formed a partnership with leading retreader Treadsetters. The new company will be called Goodyear Kenya and will begin operations from its Nairobi HQ in January, dealing in new Goodyear tyres. According to Goodyear Logistics Director Gordon Wilmot, the partnership has been formed to exploit the large market potential.
The tyre trade as we know it is fighting a defensive battle, finding it harder and harder to maintain its 60 p.c. market share of sales to the user. Not only car franchise firms with their recently acquired considerable strength give the tyre trade a hard time in competition, but new forms of distribution, which may be grouped together under the loose label “Fast Fit”, are on the advance. Many Volkswagen, Fiat, Ford (to name but a few marques) so-called contract dealers have had their contracts terminated and are looking for new means of earning a livelihood. These companies, mostly family-run, will not easily be displaced. They will specialise in marketing replacement parts complete with a competent and reasonably priced service. Fichtel & Sachs, a Mannesmann group subsidiary, offers a franchise system under the AutoCrew name, naturally also for the optimum marketing of its own products, shock absorbers. Bosch, the giant in the electrical field, is also looking for new openings for its service workshops. The objective is to gain marketing expertise in tyres by cooperation with Goodyear, with Bosch offering Goodyear’s tyre trade partners know-how in the automotive field in return. Specialist markets like ATU with their increasing importance in tyre marketing should not be overlooked either. In the nineteen nineties ATU grew from zero to the current number of 230 outlets throughout Germany, all of them with high turnover figures, i.e. each of them probably turning over well above 2.5 million euros. ATU founder Peter Unger’s appetite, however, is not nearly satisfied, the expansion will go on. The article in the January issue of NEUE REIFENZEITUNG describes the individual tyre marketers. It queries many things, asks many questions without being able or willing to provide the answers. Only one thing remains clear: To found a new company exclusively for tyre trading (including the services related to it) is dangerous. The chances of surviving a long start-up phase are regarded as relatively small. The gist of the article is this: In future we will see an ever increasing number of Fast Fitters making the bulk of their turnover with tyres, while Automobil, Bosch, AutoCrew and similarly derived Fast Fitters will focus mainly on other products, with tyres nevertheless generating a significant share of total turnover, somewhere between a quarter and a third.
First quarter results due to be released on April 19th should be better than expected. The capacity utilisation in all Goodyear’s factories was higher than last year and the fill rate has been further improved. If Goodyear can stick to the already announced price increases in the USA (3-5%), this will mean a faster than expected recovery.
After Goodyear gave a profit warning for the second quarter its share prices fell yesterday by 10% to US$22.5; in June 1999 the price was US$58.7. The increase in raw material costs (rubber, oil, carbon black), the failure of securing better prices and extremely competitive prices in the UK and Germany, as well as the weak Euro against the dollar are the main reasons. US economy magazines yesterday wrote about the necessity for Goodyear “to make immediate drastic moves over there (meaning Europe).
Directors of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. have declared a quarterly dividend of 30 cents per share. The dividend is payable December 15, to shareholders of record on November 16. The payout represents an annual rate of $1.20 per share.
In the fourth week of 2000 the share prices of the tyre manufacturers Bridgestone, Continental, Cooper and Goodyear have hit a 52 weeks’ low. In this week alone, Toyo Tyres fell 10%, Bridgestone 6% and Goodyear 5%. Just a week before Toyo had marked an increase of 12% while again Goodyear (-8%), Michelin (-8%) and Cooper (-8%) did not fare so well.
Significant progress has been made in the management and disposal of scrap tyres in the USA, says Terry Noteboom, senior environmental engineer for Goodyear. Last year over 71% of the 272 million scrap tyres generated in the US was recovered, exceeding the recovery rates for aluminium, glass and paper.
On 1st August, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company declared a quarterly dividend of 30 cents a share, representing an annual rate of $1.20 per share. The dividend is payable September 15, to shareholders registered at August 15.
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.
