Sumitomo Rubber to End U.S. Supply Deal with Goodyear

Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. will stop making original-equipment tires in the U.S. for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in 2018 as it shifts its focus to its own Falken brand, The Nikkei reports.

Sumitomo and Goodyear ended their 16-year marketing alliance in 2015. Dissolving the partnership gave Sumitomo ownership of a plant it operated with Goodyear in Tonawanda, N.Y. The facility has continued to make tires under Goodyear’s Dunlop brand to sell to Japanese carmakers in the U.S.

When Sumitomo phases out the Dunlop business in the U.S. next year, the company will hike capacity at the Tonawanda plant to make 10,000 Falken tires per day by the end of 2019. Sumitomo announced the production increase a year ago as a four-year, $87 million program to boost the facility’s output of tires for SUVs.