Proceeds from the sale of the Dunlop brand were among the significant boosts to Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s balance sheet in the second quarter of 2025, while a tough market led to a 5.3% drop in tire units sold in the period.
The company’s net sales dropped 2.3%, to $4.4 billion from $4.5 billion in the same period a year ago.
"The second quarter proved challenging in both our consumer and commercial businesses, driven by industry disruption stemming from shifts in global trade — including a surge of low-cost imports across our key markets," CEO and president Mark Stewart said. "We expect conditions to stabilize in the coming quarters, and we see clear opportunity ahead as we capitalize on our strong U.S. manufacturing footprint. We continue to expect to exceed the original goals for Goodyear Forward both in terms of cost savings and proceeds from asset sales."
Net income increased to $254 million, up from $79 million in 2024.
Income was helped by an estimated gain of $385 million from the sale of the Dunlop brand to Sumitomo Rubber Industries, plus rationalization charges and Goodyear Forward costs of $59 million and $5 million, respectively.
Regional results
In the Americas, Goodyear sold 19.1 million tires — down 2.6% from 19.6 million units in the second quarter of 2024. Goodyear says replacement tire volume was down 2%, “primarily driven by consumer replacement.” OE tire volume dropped 5%. “In the U.S., we outperformed competitors, continuing to gain OE market share.”
Net sales in the region totaled $2.66 billion, down almost 1.3% from the prior year. The tiremaker said those declines were driven by lower replacement volume, which was partially offset by benefits in price/mix.
Higher raw material costs, inflation and other costs were the driver behind a $100 million decrease in segment operating income. The decreases were partially offset by price/mix benefits and Goodyear Forward benefits.
In EMEA, tire units dropped 2%. Replacement units fell 7.3%, due to consumer replacement channel restocking, while OE unit volumes jumped 10.9%, “reflecting significant market share gains.”
Higher raw material costs contributed to a segment operating loss of $25 million, compared to income of $30 million a year ago.
In the Asia-Pacific region, tire unit volume fell 15.6%. Both replacement and original equipment volumes were off double digits. The replacement unit drop was “driven by actions to reduce lower margin business outside of China and weak demand in China.” The OE units were down 13%, due to customer mix in China.
The drop off in unit volume resulted in net sales in the region that fell by 22.7%. The sale of Goodyear’s off-the-road tire business also contributed to the dropoff, the company said.
View of imports
In the Americas, Goodyear pointed out the performance of non-U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) members in both the consumer and commercial replacement markets. Goodyear sold 19.1 million tire units in the Americas during the quarter, with net sales of $2.6 billion.
In the consumer tire market, Goodyear said U.S. sellout has been flat. But sell-in has been driven by a 15% increase in imports from non-USTMA members.
On the commercial side, Goodyear said those non-USTMA members have imported 32% more units.
Goodyear’s take on 2025
In the consumer tire business, Goodyear expects 2025 to end with a market that is flat to down by 2%. The expectation is for a “slight contraction driven by U.S. volatility related to imports/prebuy” in the replacement market, and trade uncertainty that will affect global OE tire demand.
In the commercial tire world, Goodyear’s range is a little wider, from up 2% to down 2%. The replacement side of things should result in slight growth, driven by imports, while trade uncertainty will affect OE demand in the U.S.
Benefits of Goodyear Forward
Goodyear said its segment operating income reflected $195 million in benefits from its Goodyear Forward plan. In February the company completed the sale of its OTR business to Yokohama Rubber Co.Ltd., with cash proceeds of $905 million.
Then in May the sale of the Dunlop brand to Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. resulted in cash proceeds of $735 million. Since then, a third agreement has been reached to sell Goodyear’s chemical business. That deal is expected to close in late 2025, and will add to the $1.6 billion in gross proceeds from asset sales.
View on distribution
Following the release of its second quarter financials, Goodyear hosted an investor call to go more in-depth into its financials.
When asked about pulling its Cooper brand from American Tire Distributors Inc., Stewart said that the company wants to work with aligned distributors that represent the company's full product portfolio and are working with the company to build Goodyear's brands.
Stewart said the company has done assessments on operational capabilities, service rates, stability and alignment and the company decided to strengthen its partnership with TireHub LLC.
“We don’t want to work with individuals that aren’t representing our full portfolio,” said Stewart. "We see a lot of benefit of working with fewer but much more aligned distributors to build our Goodyear family brands and servicing our dealers and retailers effectively and efficiently with a full product screen that we have available to the marketplace.
“We don’t want to work with individuals who are not representing our full portfolio.”
Christina Zamarro, Goodyear's executive vice president and chief financial officer, said that the company made a distribution transition and by the end of July, 95% of Goodyear retailers had voluntarily made the switch to a new distributor.
Some private label brands are still at ATD, but Zamarro said the company expects to wind those down over time.
Stewart said that the company made strategic decisions to rebalance the company’s U.S. distribution to ensure “high levels of customer service and mitigate credit risk following the second fall of ATD," which "was lower than 5% of our total consumer replacement volumes."
Stewart added that Goodyear will continue to offer new products during the back end of the year and beginning in 2026.
The Akron, Ohio-based company is extending its offerings in the 18-inch and above segment, which made “record gains” in the past quarter.
Goodyear is also planning on introducing 11 new product launches in the back end of the year – in North America, in particular – and will create 500 new SKUs between the U.S. and EMEA, heavily focused on 18-inch and above products.
About the Author
Joy Kopcha
Managing Editor
After more than a dozen years working as a newspaper reporter in Kansas, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, Joy Kopcha joined Modern Tire Dealer as senior editor in 2014. She has covered murder trials, a prison riot and more city council, county commission, and school board meetings than she cares to remember.