1991
• The recession continues into 1991 and the auto slump leads to widespread layoffs, plant closings and reduction in manufacturing.
• General Tire, Uniroyal Goodrich, Bridgestone and Michelin all close plants and cut jobs.
• Bridgestone expects a loss of $400 million for its North American and European operations. It pumps another $1.4 billion into North American business to reduce debt.
• Pirelli and Continental opt not to merge.
• Teledyne Monarch closes its doors for good.
• West Co. closes seven plants worldwide.
• GenCorp Automotive, Acadia Polymers and Aeroquip Corp. close factories.
• Stanley C. Gault takes over as Goodyear's top executive, succeeding Tom H. Barrett.
• Alan L. Ockene succeeds Wilhelm Borgmann as the top executive at General Tire.
• Several companies open plants, including Bridgestone/Firestone and GTY Tire, both of which open truck tire factories.
1992
• Gooodyear introduces Aquatred.
• Michelin rolls out an 80,000-mile warranty tire.
• Civil war in Liberia forces Bridgestone to suspend operations at its massive rubber plantation.
• Goodyear closes its Madisonville, Ky., tire plant.
1993
• URW ultimately saves three tire plants from closure by making concessions: Bridgestone/Firestone's Russellville, Ark., facility; Uniroyal Goodrich's Opelika, Ala., plant; and Uniroyal Goodrich's Fort Wayne, Ind., facility.
• Cooper Tire, Clevite Elastomers, Freudenberg-NOK G.P. eye operational sites in Mexico or near the U.S. border.
• John Price, president of Price Rubber Corp., and his son, David, are charged with a murder-for-hire scheme, but the hitmen hired are FBI agents. Both are convicted and sentenced to long prison terms.
• General Tire enters the year with optimism, but ends the year with major plans for cutbacks.
1994
• Labor unrest marks the year, which saw as many as 8,000 workers on strike at one point. Bridgestone/Firestone and Pirelli Armstrong Tire Corp. have the longest strikes, which continue into 1995.
• China becomes a hot spot and Goodyear aggressively seeks to get production in the country through joint ventures.
• Pirelli Armstrong gives up its ag tire business, selling it to Titan Tire Corp.
• General Tire prepares to move headquarters to Charlotte, N.C., and cuts staff.
• Michelin moves Uniroyal Goodrich offices to South Carolina.
• Lord Corp. plans to move operations from Erie, Pa., to North Carolina.
• Firestone buys Colonial Rubber Works Inc.'s roofing business.