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.
Jean-Claude Kihn has been named president of Goodyear Tire & Rubber’s Europe, Middle East and Africa business. The president of the Latin America business will fully assume his new role on 1 January 2016, succeeding Darren R. Wells, who will leave Goodyear in early 2016.
Auto Express has published the results of various tests it performed with Goodyear to measure the difference in winter braking distance when tweaking one particular tyre characteristic, and one finding is especially worth reporting as we head into the coldest part of the year. The distance it takes to stop a car doesn’t just vary depending on your choice of winter tyre – it can vary a lot.
Top-level football has become a sponsorship favourite for tyre makers, with Nexen’s partnership with Manchester City and Yokohama’s sponsorship of the Chelsea home shirt just two of the agreements announced in the second half of 2015, But the Goodyear name has been absent from such dealings for quite a while. This is now set to change following yesterday’s signing of a platinum sponsorship partnership with high-profile German club FC Bayern Munich.
Continental AG’s ContiTech division is close the 100-year-old former Goodyear plant in Bowmanville, near Durham, North Carolina, USA in mid-2016. Workers were told the news on 13 November 2015. The Bowmanville plant makes conveyor belts for mining, coal and tar sands operations and has reportedly been hit by slowing demand from the global mining industry.
In April, Goodyear Tire & Rubber chairman and chief executive Richard Kramer shared plans to introduce a company-owned online tyre retail platform in the USA. After opening for business in September, the tyre maker reports that the goodyear.com tyre sales site is now serving customers across the entire country. More than 4,000 outlets, including 600 Goodyear tyre and service centres, have joined the programme and will act as fitters for tyres purchased through the site.
Fedil, the Luxembourg Business Federation, has presented Goodyear a 2015 Environmental Award for its work with rice husk ash silica. The ‘resource efficiency’ category award was presented by Fedil president Robert Dennewald and Camille Gira, Luxembourg’s state secretary for sustainable development and infrastructure. Romain Hansen, Goodyear’s global director of technology projects, accepted the award on behalf of the ‘Rice Husk Ash Silica’ development team.
Having reduced a field of 51 to 19, Auto Bild announced that three of the winter tyres tested had made it all the way to the top of the German magazine’s rankings, picking up “exemplary” ratings. Continental’s WinterContact TS 850, Pirelli’s Winter Snowcontrol Serie 3, and the Barum Polaris 3 were the best performers, according to Auto Bild’s testers, who ranked the tyres based on their performance on snowy, wet and dry roads and their cost. The tests were performed on a VW Polo, with the tyres sized 185/60R15 T.
Titan International, Inc. has entered into a licensing agreement with The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. The agreement allows Titan to distribute and sell Goodyear-brand agricultural tyres in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Russia and other CIS countries, as well as manufacture such farm tyres in parts of the licensed territory outside the European Union. The expansion of the Goodyear-brand farm tyre licensing covers more than a hundred countries, including the UK, Eire, Germany and Italy. In addition, Titan has purchased certain Goodyear moulds and other assets currently located in Poland, Turkey and South Africa.
European trailer manufacturer Schmitz Cargobull has approved Goodyear’s Ultra Grip Max T winter trailer tyre as original equipment fitment on its trailers for customers operating in severe winter conditions. Goodyear’s recently-introduced truck winter tyres will be available in sizes 385/65R22.5 and 385/55R22.5 for trailers destined for regions such as the Alps, the Nordic countries and Russia.
Messe Essen’s Reifen show will be the epicentre of the global tyre industry from 24 to 27 May 2016. The event organiser has confirmed that the 20 largest tyre manufacturers in the world will be present, including key players such as Bridgestone, Continental, Cooper Tires, Goodyear, Falken Tyre Europe, Hankook, Maxxis, Michelin, Pirelli and Yokohama. The demand for stand space for workshop equipment providers is also growing, according to Messe Essen: Corghi, Rema Tip Top and Snap-on will all be amongst the exhibitors.
Goodyear has reported record quarterly segment operating income of US$599 million, up 15 per cent compared with the same period. Net income of $271 million was up 68 per cent. North America earnings of $323 million were up 54 per cent and are said to be “a record for any quarter”.
Goodyear has announced that it is supplying 19- and 20-inch OE tyres for the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class. As you would imagine, smooth ride is an important part of this particular OE deal, so it is interesting to note that the associate OE fitments feature Goodyear’s SoundComfort Technology integrated into the tyres.
Goodyear has become MAN’s exclusive tyre partner for its MAN ProfiDrive driver training initiative across Europe. The partnership includes equipping all 25 tractors and trailers used by MAN ProfiDrive with the latest Goodyear premium tyres. These comprise the fuel-efficient Fuelmax, the dedicated mileage line Kmax and the mixed service Omnitrac II for use both on and off road. Goodyear will maintain the tyres, which includes taking over the tyre repair shop. The partnership further involves Goodyear training the MAN trainers in tyre matters. This builds on Goodyear’s and MAN’s long-term close collaboration related to original truck equipment. The two companies have worked together for some time with events such as the MAN Trucknology Days.
Following the recent publication of “Triangle and Goodyear in ‘long-term cooperation’”, which picked up on a smaller thread in Triangle’s recent conference coverage (see “Triangle ‘goes global’ at Weihai summit”), Goodyear spokespeople from the firm’s US and European headquarters contacted Tyres & Accessories in order to comment on the report. Presenting a statement on the subject, the Goodyear representatives said “Goodyear wishes to set the record straight on public comments made by Triangle.”
German magazine, Offroad has “highly recommended” four out the five 4×4 winter tyres tested on snow, ice, wet, and dry surfaces. Mounted in size 245/65 R17 H on Volkswagen’s Amarok Canyon, the Goodyear Ultra Grip+ SUV, Nankang Winter Activa SV-55, Nokian WR SUV 3, Michelin Latitude Alpin LA2, and Pirelli Scorpion Winter participated in the […]
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