Tire dealers wary of Cooper changes

Stars and stripes may last forever, but they are fading from Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.'s image, tire dealers say.

Cooper Tire no longer will be able to cloak itself in red, white and blue as an American company since agreeing to be sold to Apollo Tyres of India. The deal, for $2.5 billion, is expected to close by year-end.

"I think it's a joke. Another American sellout," said George Myers, manager/shop owner of Cuthbert Auto Service in Westmont, N.J. "Another big American company selling out for cash to foreign countries. That's why America is going down the toilet bowl."

The Apollo-Cooper deal is just the latest event to sour Myers on Cooper Tire.

"They advertise themselves as a U.S.A. company and they started making them overseas (in China) ... the hell with them," he said. "There's other tire companies to buy from. We try not to sell Chinese tires if we can help it. Why should I support the Chinese?"

Still, some customers request Cooper tires, and Myers makes them available on request.

"I've sold them here and there when I had to, people really wanted them," he said.

Cooper Tire likely will lose some customers' loyalty when it becomes an Apollo Tyres subsidiary, said tire dealer Terry Speck, co-owner of Speck Sales Co. in Bowling Green.

"Everybody probably takes a sense of pride in local ownership, and when you lose that, that probably puts a spin on the negative side," Speck said. "Part of their advertising theme traditionally has been American-made, American-owned and that certainly isn't going to be applicable anymore."

Customers still request American-made tires, Speck said.

It appears that in taking the Apollo deal, Cooper Tire has forfeited some of the confidence it had from communities in northwestern Ohio, said Tim Price, senior vice president for Tireman Auto Service Center. Price has management oversight for Tireman stores in Findlay, Bowling Green, Defiance and Fremont.

People seem to have the feeling that Cooper eventually will turn its back on the community, he said.

"When they say nothing is going to change, something always changes. It may not change today, but over time things change," Price said.

An employee who asked to remain unnamed at McLenaghan Wholesale Tire in Havetown, Pa., agreed.

"We've all been told that before. When other companies have been bought by companies from outside countries, 'Oh ... nothing's going to change,'" he said. "Couple years down the road, everything changes. Manufacturing's being shipped overseas."

Steve Oddi, owner of Delco Auto Service in Clifton Heights, Pa., said he understands Findlay residents' concerns about Cooper Tire's continued presence.

"They'll make some tires there, but they'll probably move 99 percent of production overseas," Oddi said. "It's what everybody is doing."

"In the last 10 years, the North American (tire) industrial facilities have shrunk dramatically," said Tom Geiger, president of Capital Tire, Toledo.

But there is an occasional exception, he said. Some existing tire plants in North America have expanded. Pirelli, one of Europe's leading tire companies, built a new factory in Georgia in 2002.