Cooper's Roadmaster brand turns 10

FINDLAY, Ohio — Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. is marking the 10th anniversary of the debut of its Roadmaster truck tire brand, saying this represents a "launch point into our next era of successful product offerings…."

Cooper's decision a decade ago to dedicate the Roadmaster brand — which had been in Cooper's portfolio for years — to truck tires coincided with the phase-out of Cooper-brand truck tires and the initiation of the brand's being manufactured in China.

The company at that point in time had invested in two joint ventures in China, including Cooper Chengshan (Shandong) Tire Co. Ltd. in Rongcheng City, China, which became the source for the Roadmaster brand. That plant was Cooper's sole captive truck tire capacity worldwide.

Cooper launched its first SmartWay-verified Roadmaster tire, the RM180 long-haul steer tire, in 2010 and has added five more SmartWay models since. The SmartWay program, an initiative of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, sets criteria for truck tires to be verified as "low rolling resistance" and thus contribute to reducing fuel consumption.

Cooper now offers Roadmaster tires for nearly every trucking application — long haul, regional, mixed service, pick-up and delivery and bus," said Gary Schroeder, director of Cooper's truck and bus tire business, after starting with just four applications in 2007.

The brand's supply was interrupted for several months in late 2013-early 2014 when workers at the Cooper Chengshan plant stopped making Cooper- and/or Roadmaster-brand tires to protest Cooper's planned merger with India's Apollo Tyres Ltd.

The companies resolved the issue in early 2014 after the Cooper-Apollo deal fell through and Cooper agreed to sell its stake in the venture to its partner, Chengshan Group Co. Ltd.

Chengshan renamed the venture Prinx Chengshan (Shandong) Tire Co. and struck a deal to supply Cooper with truck tires through mid-2018.

At about the same time, Cooper revised the Roadmaster branding, introducing a stylized capital R logo and an "engineered by Cooper Tires" tagline.

Cooper further alleviated the supply issue in early 2016 when it struck a deal to buy a 65-percent stake in China's Qingdao Ge Rui Da Rubber Co. Ltd. and disclosed plans to use that factory in Pingdu, Qingdao Province, as a source for its Roadmaster radial truck and bus tires.

At full capacity, that factory is expected to be producing 2.5 million to 3 million radial truck tires annually, Cooper said at the time.

Another milestone in the brand's development came in 2012 when trailer manufacturer Wabash National Corp. spec'd Roadmaster tires as an OE fitment for its 53-foot dry van trailers.

That contract has served as the catalyst for a continually growing OE presence, Mr. Schroeder said.

In 2015, Cooper introduced "Cooper Fleet Service Network" to provide 24/7 emergency roadside tire replacement and repair for eligible commercial trucking fleets enrolled in Roadmaster's national account program.

Cooper sells 30 million to 35 million tires a year in North America, but the company does not break this down by category. Tire Business estimates the Roadmaster brand's market share at roughly 2.5 percent of the 20 million truck and bus tires shipped in the U.S. and Canada last year.