Goodyear announced that it will suspend tire and chemical manufacturing in its Americas region through at least April 3 or until further notice “in response to the sudden decline in market demand resulting from the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Bridgestone announced plans to shut down its manufacturing plants in North America and Latin America beginning the weekend of March 21 in a phased shutdown. The plan is for all facilities to resume normal operations "on or before April 12."

In a statement, Goodyear officials said that “phased shut down will begin across the company’s tire, retread and chemical plants in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and the United States over the coming days.” The Akron, Ohio-based tiremaker’s facility in Peru was closed earlier this week. “The company will closely monitor the local conditions surrounding its warehouse and distribution operations, as well as inventory and supply levels to continue delivery of Goodyear products," the company said.

Bridgesone said it has "sufficient supply of product to meet customer demand, and its distribution centers, plant warehouses and logistics teams will continue to fill orders, but is executing this temporary shutdown to align supply to the predicted demand in the market." The company will continue to monitor the situation closely and adjust plans and activities as necessary.

Both companies emphasized the need to ensure the health and safety of employees while also addressing the needs of customers and the market.

According to Modern Tire Dealer’s 2020 Facts Issue, Goodyear’s eight tire manufacturing plants in North and Central America – five in the United States, two in Canada and one in Mexico – can, in total, manufacture more than 199,000 units per day at full capacity. Bridgestone operates 10 tire factories in North America: seven in the U.S., one in Canada, and two in Mexico. Combined, those plants produce 141,430 tires a day, 15,200 of which are truck tire.