Goodyear Positioned to Gain From Industry Trends

Trends in the global tire industry play to the strengths of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and its strategy to drive profitable growth.

“The accelerating shift to high-value-added tires for both consumer vehicles and commercial trucks is the main product trend shaping the future of the tire industry,” Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President Richard J. Kramer said at the company’s annual shareholder meeting today.

In the consumer tire business, he said, this trend is best represented by the growth of tires with rim diameters of 17 inches and larger. The market for this segment, he said, has doubled since 2010 and is expected to double again by 2020.

Goodyear’s advantage over its competitors, Kramer said, is the company’s connected business model, which integrates its consumer-facing strengths – such as OE relationships and powerful marketing relationships – with its aligned distribution network.

“Some tire companies are strong in one or a few of these areas, but very few can manage all the elements of complexity within a connected business model like Goodyear,” he said.

Other trends highlighted by Kramer were the complexity of supplying automakers due to the increasing variety of vehicle offerings and the changing expectations of technology-enabled consumers.

During the annual meeting, shareholders re-elected 13 members of the company’s Board of Directors to new one-year terms, approved Goodyear’s 2017 Performance Plan and voted to ratify the appointment of Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP as the company’s independent registered public accounting firm for 2017. A shareholder proposal to require that future board chairpersons be independent directors was not approved. In advisory votes, shareholders approved the compensation of the company’s named executive officers and continuing to hold that vote on an annual basis.