While these stories may not have been among our top 10 biggest of the year they certainly had an impact. Significant stories of 2018 include:
• Discount Tire/America's Tire opened its 1,000th retail store, a facility in northern Phoenix, 58 years after its late founder, Bruce Halle, opened the dealership's first store in Ann Arbor, Mich. The new store, opened in the fall, was built about 20 miles northwest of the firm's headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz.
• ATV Inc. opened three American Tire Depot locations in July, in Tulare, Hollywood and West Covina, Calif., expanding the independent tire dealership chain to 107 locations throughout Southern California.
• TBC Corp. converted its remaining 46 Merchant's Tire & Auto stores to its NTB Tire & Service Centers brand and announced plans to open 20 more NTB locations throughout 2018 and into early 2019. TBC operates roughly 740 NTB and Tire Kingdom stores in 24 states.
• Belle Tire Distributors Inc. targeted Indiana for growth, with plans to open 20 stores there through year-end 2019.
• VIP Tires & Service opened its first retail store in Vermont, expanding the dealership's network to 58 retail locations throughout Northern New England.
• TravelCenters of America L.L.C. added retreading to its portfolio, converting an idled retread plant in Bowling Green, Ohio, to an authorized Goodyear Retread Network plant.
• Bridgestone Americas Inc. unveiled its Retail Showroom Program, designed to help affiliated retail dealers improve their showroom design and the in-store shopping experience.
• Shaesta Waiz, the youngest female pilot to complete a solo flight around the world in a single-engine aircraft, christened Goodyear's newest blimp, Wingfoot Three, at its Ohio hangar.
• The Tire Industry Association (TIA) introduced a new health-care insurance benefit during the Specialty Equipment Market Association show, addressing one of the membership's top concerns.
• Japanese conglomerates Mitsubishi Corp. and Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd. established a wide-ranging strategic partnership that will enhance Toyo's global distribution assets, fund capacity expansions and help Toyo compete more effectively in the mobility sector.
• Most tire manufacturers announced North America price hikes — in some cases, two prices increases within months — up to 8 percent in some cases.
• Continental A.G. announced plans to reorganize into a holding company by 2020, with three business sectors, rubber, automotive and powertrain, with powertrain being set up as an independent, publicly held company.
• Continental Tire the Americas' Best Drive L.L.C. opened two commercial vehicle service locations in Texas, with plans to open in seven more states before year-end 2019.
• Kumho announced plans to streamline its sales strategy in 2019, focusing on independent dealers and a less redundant product portfolio.
• Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. and Sailun Vietnam Co. Ltd. agreed to set up a joint venture in Vietnam to oversee construction of a radial truck/bus tire plant rated at more than 2 million units annually.
• Jose and Luis Lopez, father and son owners of Lopez Tires L.L.C. in Salt Lake City, are beaten in what authorities believe may have been a racially motivated assault.
• U.S. tire shipments are expected to increase 2.7 percent over 2017, 1.7 percent higher than the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association forecast in mid-year. Truck-bus tire shipments increased 7.8 percent.
• Formula One Management approved Pirelli Tyre as the designated tire supplier for the FIA Formula 1 World Championship for the 2020-23 seasons.
• Ohio approved a bill that makes it illegal to mount unsafe used tires on vehicles within the state, becoming the third state to do so, after Colorado and New Jersey. A similar bill in Indiana was voted down by the state senate.
• Oriente Tire USA, a new independent company created by tire industry veterans Gus Lima and Marco Zigni, became the exclusive U.S. distributor for tires manufactured by Turkey's Petlas Tire Corp.
• Prometeon Tyre Group S.r.L said it will invest $115 million over the next two years to upgrade capacity at its truck, bus, agricultural and OTR tire plant in Izmit, Turkey.
• After flirting with a move to nearby Cleveland, Myers Industries Inc. decides to keep its headquarters in Akron.
• Shandong Linglong Tire Co. Ltd., China's third largest tire maker, committed $1.7 billion to build two plants, one each in China and in Serbia, which will boost Linglong's production capacity by 50 percent.
• Jiffy Lube International expanded further into vehicle maintenance, launching Jiffy Lube Multicare, a franchise option that adds brake service and automotive diagnostics to the Jiffy Lube portfolio.
• Aftermarket giant Tenneco Inc. acquired Federal-Mogul L.L.C.
• Fairmount Tire & Rubber Inc. celebrated its 60th anniversary.
• Cooper Tire relaunched a Coop- er-brand truck and bus tire line, 11 years after phasing it out and making the Roadmaster brand its sole truck/bus product.
• Conti launched its first two standard ag tires, the Tractor 70 and 85, a little more than two years after the tire maker re-entered the farm tire market.
• ATD's Tire Pros launched several initiatives, including a Tire Pros marketing campaign with a simple message: "Hassle Free. Guaranteed."
• Bridgestone adopted a global sustainable procurement policy that will apply to all of the tire maker's purchased materials and services, as well as to its global suppliers.
• Light truck tire retreader TreadWright Inc. upgraded manufacturing at its Houston plant, supporting a shift in production to 100-percent bead-to-bead as part of its "America Made" marketing message.