Goodyear Focused on Cost Control, Products
Coming off a challenging first quarter, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is emphasizing cost control and maintaining product momentum.
Goodyear took a net loss of $249 million during the first quarter of 2026 versus net income of $115 million during the same period in 2025.
In a May 7 conference call with investors, Goodyear President and CEO Mark Stewart said the Akron, Ohio-based tiremaker is “accelerating new cost actions that build on the transformation work we began two years ago,” when the Goodyear Forward program was launched.
"That includes a continued emphasis on simplifying the organization, improving efficiency across our manufacturing footprint and strengthening the structural cost profile of the business. We will continue to take action – proactively adapting our cost structure as conditions evolve and we'll provide additional details as those actions are finalized.
"In addition to the actions on cost, it's even more critical today that our product development efforts sustain the momentum we’ve achieved over the last two years,” said Stewart. “This will help ensure our product coverage aligns with the most differentiated and the most profitable segments of the tire market."
Stewart said the company's strategy is "to position Goodyear as the strong, premium, number-one brand again. Being in a dogfight in the lower tiers of the marketplace ... is not a winning propostion" for the tiremaker.
He told investors Goodyear believes that “much of the destocking” at the tire dealer and distributor level “is behind us and as that headwind eases, it should provide a more stable backdrop for volumes.”
Goodyear's tire volume in the Americas dropped by 17% during the first quarter of 2026, with replacement tire volume decreasing 23.2%, "driven by weak industry conditions in North America," according to the firm's earnings release.
"In addition, we’re accelerating the initiatives that build in the success of Goodyear Forward, further strengthening our cost structure," said Stewart. "This will require us to make some difficult but very necessary decisions to ensure the business is aligned with the environment we're operating in. We’re confident this approach will position us well over the long-term.”
Looking back at Q1
During the investors call, Stewart said conditions in the Americas "were challenging" during the first quarter.
"Weak consumer and commercial demand, retailer and distributor destocking and increased manufacturing promotion weighed on the results. Conflict in the Middle East has introduced more uncertainty particularly around raw materials and potential in-market demand. When you add that to already weak industry trends, it creates a challenging backdrop for coming quarters, but one we’re well prepared to manage.
"In the Americas, consumer OE industry demand declined, reflecting lower OEM production. Even in that environment, we grew our OE market share by about two points in the quarter ... that progress really reinforces our confidence in our OE strategy and continues to build a strong pipeline for future premium replacement demand over time.
"On the consumer replacement side, U.S. industry demand declined, driven by harsh winter weather and a cautious consumer. Against that backdrop, we stayed disciplined on price mix and we did not chase near-term volumes."
Volume shifts in Goodyer's Americas region during the quarter "also reflect planned actions that rationalized low-margin, non-core brands (and) non- core product lines as we continue to work to streamline our portfolio of product offerings. As we look to second quarter, we expect consumer replacement volume to improve from first quarter levels, given the sharp destocking experienced in Q1 and new assortment wins achieved by our sales team with key U.S customers."
Addressing Goodyear's commercial tire business, Stewart said the "Americas commercial truck tire business continued to be impacted by tough comps and a continued weak trading environment. Volumes remain at very low levels and operating results in our Americas commercial business continue to be challenged, given the multi-year downturn in U.S. freight activity. Our focus here is clear: improving our trajectory of earnings through price mix and a strong forces on cost."
What's next
Looking ahead, Christine Zamarro, Goodyear's executive vice president and chief financial officer, who joined Stewart on the investors call, said the company "is fully committed to new and meaningful operating and structural cost reductions. While there is very clear pressure on our near-term earnings I am confident in our team's ability to manage through various scenarios that might unfold over the coming quarters with both price mix and cost actions over time.
"As we look at the second quarter, we would expect lower year-on-year volume, but improving from the first quarter, all else equal," she said. "This expectation is rooted in new assortment wins with key customers, actions we implemented during the first quarter and a more natural alignment of sell- in relative to sellot.
"Having said that, it's not clear what demand volatility we may see due to the Middle East conflict. Our second quarter industry assumption for consumer replacement is down about 3% in North Ameica and China and down about 2% in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). For commercial, we expect the industry in North America to be down 12% and down 3% to 4% in EMEA."
"As we think about the path forward, demand and inflation will largely depend on the duration and the direction of the current geopolitical conflict and its impact on consumers," said Stewart. "We're going to focus on actions we can directly influence to manage through the uncertain environment. It's about controlling the controllables."