Goodyear India Ltd, incorporated as Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company (India), acquired its present name in 1961 when it became a public limited company. A FERA company, with Goodyear Tire and Rubber, US, as the holding company with a stake of 74%, manufactures tyres and rubber goods used by the automobile industry, at its plant in Ballabgarh, Uttar Pradesh. In 1982, the company entered into an agreement with Andrew Yule and Company, for technical know-how for fan-belts and vee-belts with a 50% buy-back arrangement. Production of scooter and motorcycle tyres was discontinued in Apr.'86.
In 1993, a joint venture South Asia Tyres, was effected with RPG-Ceat to manufacture steel radial passenger tyres, truck tyres and bias earthmover tyres earlier imported. Goodyear's product profile includes ultra large earthmover tyres, which are import substitutes, power tread passenger radial tyres, light and medium commercial truck tyres, farm tyres, automotive tyres, etc, which are marketed under the Goodyear brand.
The company undertook modernisation and expansion of its units to increase productivity. It was accredited with ISO 9002 certification by National Quality Assurance, UK, in 1994. BEML, Coal India, etc, procure their requirement of earthmover tyres from Goodyear. While it previously catered only to Ambassador, Padmini and Premier.
In 1999, it launched India's first 13 inch tubeless as well as tube type H-rated, the Eagle NCT3 which will cater to all the mid-size cars such as Ford Ikon, Honda City, Opel Corsa, Mitsubishi Lancer, Fiat Siena, Maruti Esteem & Baleno etc.
It introduced three new products for truck and light truck segments. They are the Power 2000, the Power Torq+ and the Power Max+, targeted at the medium, commercial and light truck segments, respectively. The new tyres were created state-of-the-art computer modelling techniques to reduce tread wear. The company explored new markets beyond the borders and expanded the areas of its marketing influence in Asia.
During 2005, the company launched a new Rear Farm Tyre 'Sampurna' which was ver well accepted in the Market. During the year under review the companies production capacity of Automotive Tyre stood at 1264 Nos.
The companies strategic initiative in tyre retailing took off in 2006. The stores were inaugurated in Multiple cities across India starting with Chennai and quickly expanding to other states. Currently new concept retail stores are present in 8 cities in India and the company has plans to extend the stores to all corners of the country.
In July 2007, the Company sold their Engineered Products business for $1.475 billion. The Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric and Goodyear Eagle F1 All-Season tires were 2 innovative new products introduced in 2007. Assurance was launched for passenger car segment in March, 2008. The Farm Tyre Development Centre set up at the Ballabgarh Plant became fully operational in 2009. Vajra Super was launched into the farm sector during November 2009. 'DuraPlus' tyres were launched in 2009. Ducaro Hi Miler' also got launched for Indian fleets and value conscious small car owners.
Radial Farm Tyres were launched in 2011. In 2017, the Company introduced Goodrock in the industrial application, after intensive testing and Vajra Super for harvesting operations. It further introduced 'Sampurna +' for the value segment of the Farm & Haulage application. In front farm tyre segment, it extended the FT 195 3 RIB range by adding sizes to serve the demand of consumers.