As part of the campaign aimed at refreshing the Goodyear brand in Europe, at the start of 2019 Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations SA (Belgian Branch) changed its name to Goodyear Operations. The UK company is set to follow suit «over the next two years», also excluding «Dunlop» from Goodyear Dunlop UK Ltd. At the same time, it is reported that Goodyear will continue the production of Dunlop tires and will support all of the manufactured products during their entire lifespan.

Administrative changes in the other European branches of Goodyear Dunlop will be made in stages in the course of the next two years, and will only affect the trademark name of the company. The product range of this tire maker will remain unchanged: the tires and related services coming under the brand names of Goodyear, Debica, Dunlop, Fulda, and Sava, will not go away from the European market. This is a simplification of brand names of a purely legal nature that will not in any manner, shape or form affect the existing operational processes or business contracts.

We will note here that the changes in the names of the European branches of Goodyear Dunlop should also be considered in the context of the recent termination of the joint venture between Goodyear and Sumitomo — says our technical expert — Currently, the Dunlop brand is owned by these two companies at different markets, which brings about a number of difficulties with signing large-scale contracts, such as for supplying tires as original equipment for this or that car.