Goodyear completes sale of Dunlop brand, Sumitomo Rubber takes over
On May 7, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company announced that the Dunlop brand rights transfer agreement reached earlier with Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) has been officially completed. This transaction can be called a "great shift" of brand assets.
Sumitomo Rubber not only won the operating rights of Dunlop consumer tires, commercial tires and specialty tires in the three core markets of Europe, North America and Oceania, but also took in the core intellectual property rights and inventory resources related to them. This cross-continental brand asset transaction will undoubtedly reshape the competitive landscape of the global tire market.
The transaction is worth US$735 million (€650 million), including US$526 million for the Dunlop brand, US$105 million for transition support fees and US$104 million for the purchase of Dunlop tire inventory. In another statement on May 8, SRI said it would "work to maximize the value of Dunlop as its main global brand."
In March, SRI unveiled its long-term management strategy (Rise 2035), which will see the group strengthen its focus on tire "premiumization" and non-tire businesses. The strategy mainly prioritizes investments in certain target areas to achieve short-term and long-term goals. This growth will be supported by the development of the Dunlop brand, which covers premium tires as well as sports products in almost all regions of the world.
As part of the strategy, SRI intends to strengthen the brand by "unifying the Dunlop identity" in the next two years and improve profitability by promoting premium tires. From 2028 to 2030, it aims to promote global brand management centered on Dunlop, and then leverage well-known brands to focus on cash flow generation and ensure a strong market position.
10 years, Dunlop returns to Sumitomo Rubber
At the end of 2023, Goodyear announced its "Goodyear Forward" plan to divest its Dunlop business in Europe. For a year afterwards, the industry has been paying attention to the dynamics of this matter. Although Sumitomo Rubber expressed interest in acquiring Goodyear's sales and operating rights for the Dunlop tire brand in Europe and North America in a conference call with investors.
But there was no movement after that. But at the beginning of 2025, Dunlop directly "exploded" - signed a purchase agreement. Now reports show that Goodyear has completed the sale of Dunlop to Sumitomo Rubber. After 10 years, Sumitomo Rubber finally bought back Dunlop's "global business".
Alliance, rupture and Dunlop
The reasons for Dunlop's departure from Sumitomo Rubber can be traced back to 1999. In 1999, in order to better utilize their respective advantages to develop the tire business, Goodyear and Sumitomo Rubber announced an alliance.
Goodyear acquired 75% of Sumitomo Rubber's tire business (including manufacturing and sales) in North America and Europe. This also means that Goodyear is responsible for the operation of selling Dunlop brand tires in the European and North American markets.
On June 4, 2015, the alliance that had been formed for 16 years announced its dissolution. According to the dissolution agreement at the time, Goodyear will acquire Sumitomo's 25% stake in Goodyear Dunlop Tire Europe (GDTE); Goodyear will still have the exclusive agency rights of the Dunlop brand in the European market after June 4, 2015; however, the exclusive agency rights of Dunlop brand tires in Russia, Turkey and some African countries still belong to Sumitomo Rubber.
Dunlop brand global tire manufacturing and sales have been operated by two tire companies for more than 20 years. Now, with the purchase agreement taking effect, Dunlop brand tire business worldwide belongs to Sumitomo Rubber.
