Goodyear Tires – A Retrospective
For Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, a world-wide rubber and tire maker, one of the most notable brands in the auto industry is based on innovation, safety and reliability. While Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company is known to produce tires for all of the leading car manufacturers in the world, the brand also has a number of popular and classic brand names running through its varied businesses, including:
Other well-known brands, such as Firestone, Studebaker, Callaway, Dunlop and many others, are also products of innovation, engineering and manufacturing excellence.
Take a closer look at these brands and discover for yourself what they have to offer.
Goodyear
The first Goodyear tires were developed around 1909 by a tire company called Dunlop, in the United Kingdom. Dunlop was initially concerned with producing good quality rubber for motor vehicles, particularly those used oniance. Within five years, Goodyear was manufacturing its first tires for vehicles, which were differences in size, in seasons. They soon discovered that the popularity of their products was increasing, and that they could differentiate their tires more and more by producing different styles and designs. From the start, Goodyear focused on relied on three major areas:
· Durability, which refers to the ability to withstand heat, friction, and harsh weather, and evolve in tires over extended periods of time
· precision, which refers to a tire that provides a smooth ride
· price, which refers to the cost of the Goodyear tires
During the particular time that Goodyear tires were being developed, steel wheels were not attached to cars, and certainly would not survive over a long period of time. Thus, the development of a rubber-resin system, which is used today, was the starting point for the product.
The first mass-produced Goodyear tires were made in Akron, Ohio, and appeared on HenryFord’s Model T in September 1908. The first Goodyear tires were not a huge hit, and it wasn’t until after World War I that the popularity of Goodyear tires became and continues to be.
Due to the durable quality of the product, the brand became involved in a partnership with Ford from 1927 to 1932 to help create mass-market products. When the partnership ended, Goodyear became its own separate entity. In fact, the biggest contribution to the company from its birth until the early 50’s was the injection of cash by Henry Ford.
Aside from the Ford partnership, Goodyear produced tires for the Cherokee, which they created based on a design by J. Stillman Engle. Part of the Cherokee’s innovative styling was gained from the use of Goodyear tires.
During the thirties, Goodyear tires were a very good option for cars. They were manufactured by the companies in cooperation with the U.S. Government, and became very popular during the Great Depression.
Through the 50’s, the company began to produce tires for heavier vehicles, such as trucks and buses. During this time, they began to produce their own in-house developements, such as the “Ramp-N-Cog.” Ramps, in this era, were used to help the side of a vehicle curve properly as itared down a road. Goodyear tires helped make the U.S. supremely efficient and efficient.
From then until around 1960, Goodyear tires were not just made for cars. They were also produced for motorbikes and remained a favorite among many for the primary reason that they were a cheaper alternative to cars.
“Make more spur-of-the-moment decisions, less sudden and assumptions.”
Decades later, the company became an integral part of the FIA Formula One team and was one of the principle tire suppliers for the 1916 Rio. Other famous brands manufactured by the company in the later years include Dunlop, grabbing and alien.
Goodyear had been producing for the military but came out with the G-force in 1989. The idea was to replace petroleum-based lubrication with a non-toxic, synthetic substance. The non-toxic nature of the product was a major selling point and was largely responsible for the brand’s popularity for non-drivers.
In 2000, Goodyear announced the company was going into bankruptcy. The decision was sudden and major and the company did not plan for the consumer’s lack of reaction to the drastic shift from consumer to producer. With the bad business decisions of the company, the brand was purchased by a Swiss company in 2005.
As of January 2007, Goodyear Company has been placed in a new four-year parent company called Arconic Inc. The company was re-shaped to have a different business model and many new products introduced.
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