Goodyear this morning confirmed that it has sold its shuttered Union City, Tenn., tire plant to Titan International.
No other details on the deal were available at press time. Titan is said to be issuing a statement on the deal later today.
The 43-year-old plant was closed in July as part of Goodyear’s cost cutting efforts. The plant was set up to produce passenger and light truck/SUV tires, and presumably would be refit to produce OTR and/or agricultural tires – the two segments Titan has focused on in the past.
Yesterday, Obion County Mayor Benny McGuire told the Jackson (Tennessee) Sun of the sale, but said he did not know any details. “I have not directly talked to the Titan officials,” McGuire was quoted as saying.
According to WPSD-YV in Paducah, Ky., Union City Mayor Terry Hailey announced the purchase on his Facebook page. "Good News!" Hailey’s Facebook post read. "Titan Tire has bought the Goodyear facility in Union City. We look forward to a lasting relationship with Titan. It is official."
In the company’s recent third quarter financial report, Titan chairman and CEO Morry Taylor hinted at the purchase in his outlook statement: “The backorder Titan has today is the largest we have ever seen and we will be hiring many more employees in the next few months. I believe every customer that I have talked with forecasts an increase in their orders for 2012. I hope to have Titan’s goals for revenue and EBITDA for 2012 by the first week of December 2011.
“Titan’s growth this year will be over 50% from last year and we will have an opportunity to match that growth next year. I appreciate that there are people who may not have as positive a view as I do, but when you review the yearly OEM forecast and talk with the end users of tires and wheels, whether it’s farmers, dealers, mining operators or construction companies, they are all positive. I have been to Europe, South America, Canada, and many places in the United States. It’s the same story. Titan has had more visitors from Africa, Indonesia, Russia and Australia this summer than any time ever before. Titan has and will be expanding every factory we own today over the next eight months.”
