Cooper Tire And Rubber Co Company Profile

Cooper Tire, the segment that comprises Cooper's tire and related businesses, is the fourth largest tire manufacturer in North America and, according to a recognized trade source, is the eighth largest tire company in the world based on sales. The Tire segment focuses on the sale of passenger and light truck replacement tires. It also manufactures radial medium truck tires and materials and equipment for the truck tire retread industry. Cooper-Standard Automotive, the segment that includes all of Cooper's automotive components business, is one of the world's leaders in the design and manufacture of automotive body sealing products and ranks among the top producers of noise, vibration and harshness ('NVH') control products and fluid handling systems for the automotive industry.

The Tire segment operates in a highly competitive industry, which includes Bridgestone Corporation, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and Groupe Michelin. These competitors are substantially larger than the Company and serve the OEM as well as the replacement portion of the tire market. The segment also faces competition from low-cost producers in Asia and South America. Some of those producers are foreign subsidiaries of the segment's competitors in North America.

In the tread rubber industry, which supplies retread equipment and materials to the commercial truck tire industry, there are numerous suppliers, of which Bandag, Inc. and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company have a combined market share that is believed to exceed 70'percent. The remaining significant competitors include the retread business of the segment and the retread business of one other major tire manufacturer.