Dunlop Tires for Sale
February 12, 2009 by Robert · Leave a Comment
Dunlop Tires made tires and rubber products for all kinds of industries for the majority of the twentieth century, being taken over by BTR plc in the mid 1980s. Founded in 1889, the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co. Ltd was created to commercialize John Dunlop's pneumatic tire patent. The company originally provided tires during the bicycle boom, and started out subcontracting manufacture. By 1902, the company had a manufacturing subsidiary of its own, located in Birmingham, England. (Continue reading more about Dunlop Tires...)
Here, you can shop for the right Dunlop Tire for your vehicle:
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Dunlop is Worldwide
Branches were established in North America, Australia, and Europe by the 1890s, but financial problems required the company to sell overseas operations shortly thereafter. Because of this, Dunlop tires sold in New Zealand and Australia have been owned separately from those elsewhere in the world for more than a century.
Production of automobile tires didn't start until the beginning of the twentieth century. The company considered to expand, opening a new plant in 1918. By 1920, sales branches and subsidiaries had opened up elsewhere in the world again, located in places as varied as Belgium, Denmark, India, Italy, the Netherlands, South Africa, South America, Spain and Sweden. The company owned rubber plantations in Ceylon and Malaya and had manufacturing operations in the US, Japan, and France.
Foreign companies started competing heavily in the UK market in the 1920s, so Dunlop diversified to hold its position, adding clothing and footwear to its offerings. An aerospace division was created to supply tires and rubber for the fledgling aircraft industry, and foam latex mattresses were produced from 1929 onward. Sporting equipment was even made by Dunlop from the 1930s.
After World War II, the market for tires in the UK was biased towards sellers, and Dunlop took advantage of it, holding nearly half the market by the mid 1950s. The market share declined because of allegations of price fixing, however. In addition, the company's choice in the 1960s to work with textile radials instead of steel belted radials caused Dunlop to lose ground to Michelin and others marketing the more durable types of tires. However, the company stayed active, and was a major supplier of Formula One tires from 1950 to 1977.
As part of a merger with Pirelli in 1971, the third largest tire company in the world was created. However, this merger didn't work out, so the joint venture was dissolved in 1981. During this period, Dunlop did create the first failsafe tires in the world, which allowed safe movement of a vehicle, even after a blowout had occurred.
By the 1980s, however, the company had serious financial difficulties. Dunlop Tire Corporation in the US was sold to its management, and many other companies were sold as well. Currently, tires with the Dunlop name are still made by the company, but that company is owned by Sumitomo Rubber Industries and Goodyear Tire and Rubber.
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