The first Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company manufacturing plant was launched in 1898 with money that the founder Frank Seiberling borrowed from a brother-in-law. He named the company after the courageous pioneer Charles Goodyear, who is attributed with the discovery of vulcanization. At that time the necessary raw materials had to be transported from half way around the world to the small landlocked town in Ohio that had only limited rail transportation. The company started with 13 employees producing bicycle and carriage tires.
18 years later, in 1926, the company was ranked the world’s largest tire company based on their sales figures at that time. The rise to the top was rapid and today Goodyear declares annual sales of more than $20 billion. It still proudly holds its top ranking as one of the largest tire companies in the world, operating 60 plants in 26 countries around the world. In North America and Latin America, Goodyear is the number one tire maker, and the second largest in Europe.
Goodyear develops state of the art tire technology with performance tires that offer excellent dry as well as wet handling. They manufacture tires for all weather and road conditions, including off-road tires for light trucks and high performance sports tires.