'Footwear' For Any Occasion, Any Car

DETROIT, Jan. 9, 2004 -- At this month's round of glitzy North American auto shows -- from Los Angeles to Detroit -- all sorts of innovative concept vehicles are being shown off, and many of them are riding on rubber from Goodyear, as usual.

The "footwear" that these vehicles sport are also of the concept variety in many cases, as Goodyear engineers have worked closely with vehicle designers for months to devise a special set of tires that will both support and add style to the showcased automobile or truck.

"Rightly so, the concept vehicles at these shows grab the headlines and most of the attention from the media and consumers. But we happen to think the tires - often of the one-of-a-kind variety - are pretty amazing, too," said Kevin Kramer, Goodyear's vice president, original equipment tires.

"Like the vehicles on which they're mounted, these concept tires can stretch the creative design envelope. The auto shows give our tire designers an opportunity to flex the right side of their brains."

But concept tire design is more than an exercise in getting the creative juices flowing.

There's a very strong business case for Goodyear's close working relationships with vehicle manufacturers on concept projects. "Working with OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) on these projects puts us on the ground floor when they're looking at different design concepts," Kramer said.

"Many times, we've either received new business or morphed a design into an honest-to-goodness production tire," he said. The most famous is probably the Goodyear Aquatred, the world's first tire with a deep, water-shedding aquachannel.

The forerunner to Goodyear's Aquatred appeared as a concept tire for an early 1980s General Motors Corp. concept car; it was introduced and was wildly successful in the replacement market a decade later.

Some concept tire designs follow form more than function, such as the one with a tread design that looked like snakeskin. It was designed for the Dodge Copperhead concept car. Goodyear made a set of tires for the Ford "Tonka Truck" concept vehicle a couple of years ago that had a very "blocky" tread design, intended to look brawny, but not to be especially road-worthy. Another was the Batmobile tire, with bat-shaped tread grooves. Those tires drew raves, but were for 'show' only - the "Batman" producers used more conventional tires in the movies.

Another tire trend that can be traced to concept vehicles is the onset of larger wheels, which not only have design appeal, but also provide additional performance benefits, including allowing for larger and more efficient brakes. "Now you have tires with lower aspect ratios to accommodate these wheels," Kramer said. This means a shorter sidewall - and a smaller palette for tire designers. "Our designers compensate by adding raised ridges and other stylized sidewall elements for added curb and stoplight appeal," he said.

"Whether in size or style, tires continue to differentiate themselves and provide vehicle manufacturers and consumers multiple choices," Kramer pointed out.

Among the appealing choices at this year's auto shows have been Goodyear- designed concept tires for attention-grabbing concept models such as the Toyota FTX pickup, Jeep Treo and Ford Bronco.

In addition, Goodyear tires have been selected as original equipment fitments for 2004 production models such as the Ford Freestar, BMW 530I, Acura MDX, Chevrolet SSR, Dodge Durango and many more.

Goodyear is the world's largest tire company. The company manufactures tires, engineered rubber products and chemicals in more than 85 facilities in 28 countries around the world. Goodyear employs about 88,000 people worldwide. Additional information about the company and its products is available at www.goodyear.com .