The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
Company Overview
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is one of the largest tyre manufacturers in the world and, for anyone sourcing automotive rubber in China, one of the most useful reference points in the category. Founded in 1898 in Akron, Ohio by Frank Seiberling, the company is named after Charles Goodyear, the American inventor who discovered vulcanisation. It has been listed on NASDAQ under the ticker GT, and it has been the world's third-largest tyre manufacturer by revenue since 2021.
Its relevance to Chinese sourcing is historical and practical at the same time. Goodyear was the first foreign tyre manufacturer to build a plant in China, investing in a facility in Dalian in 1994. According to the company's own Chinese-language corporate page, the group employs roughly 63,000 people worldwide with 49 facilities across 19 countries, and its Asia-Pacific operation runs around 8,600 employees with seven manufacturing plants across China, Thailand, Indonesia and India.
Read that as a map rather than a supplier list. The seven plants in the region tell you where the automotive rubber supply chains are dense, and the compounds and specifications behind those plants are what the Chinese tier of technical rubber suppliers are measured against.
Main Products
Goodyear's range covers passenger car, SUV, light truck, commercial truck and bus, off-road and agricultural, aviation and motorsport tyres. On the Chinese market site the product families are grouped into ranges such as Eagle F1, ComfortTread, Assurance and Wrangler, plus a dedicated EV range. The company also licenses the Goodyear brand for bicycle tyres, after a gap in production between 1976 and 2015.
For a buyer, the practical lesson is not "buy Goodyear". It is that the categories where a global brand still controls the specification — tread compound, silica loading, curing cycle, uniformity measurement — are the categories where a Chinese factory will either have equivalent process control or will not, and you can find out which by asking for the same data.
Certifications and Standards Context
Goodyear's own plant certificates are not published in a form a buyer can use as a purchasing benchmark, so treat certification claims in this category as you would anywhere else: ECE R30 or R54 or R117 for European type approval depending on the tyre class, DOT marking and plant code for the US market, CCC for China domestic sale, and IATF 16949 for the automotive quality system at plant level. Ask any Chinese tyre or rubber component supplier for the certificate number and check it in the issuing body's register rather than accepting a PDF.
Key Facts
- Founded 1898, Akron, Ohio, USA. Founder: Frank Seiberling. Named after Charles Goodyear.
- Publicly traded on NASDAQ (GT). Third-largest tyre manufacturer worldwide by revenue since 2021.
- Around 63,000 employees globally with 49 facilities in 19 countries, per the company's Chinese corporate page.
- First foreign tyre manufacturer to invest in China, with a Dalian plant from 1994.
- Asia-Pacific: around 8,600 employees and seven manufacturing plants across China, Thailand, Indonesia and India.
- Two global innovation centres, in Akron (Ohio) and Colmar-Berg (Luxembourg), plus two R&D centres in China.
- Brand licensed for bicycle tyres; product families include Eagle F1, ComfortTread, Assurance, Wrangler and an EV range.
Contacts and Official Sources
Company, product and regional information is published on the official sites: goodyear.com/corporate for the group and goodyear.com.cn for the China market. The employee, facility and Asia-Pacific figures in this profile are taken from the corporate background section of the China site.
Contact details, plant addresses and distributor arrangements should be confirmed on the official site. This profile is compiled from public information and is intended as a sourcing reference, not as an offer or an endorsement. Where any figure conflicts with the company's own current publication, follow the official site.