Fulda, a key member of the Goodyear family, is celebrating the 115th anniversary of its founding in 1900, and 100 years as an innovator of commercial vehicle tyres. This heritage has led to Fulda becoming one of Germany’s leading tyre brands and popular across Europe, offering value for money, with high quality products for light and heavy commercial vehicles, as well as cars, 4x4s and SUVs.
“Fulda is a very important brand in our portfolio, particularly in relation to commercial vehicle tyres. We are very proud to celebrate the 100th anniversary of modern Fulda truck tyres together with the 115th anniversary of the brand itself this year. The Fulda Sembusto produced in 1915 was Fulda´s pioneering truck tyre and since then the brand has offered quality truck tyres. This is valid till today with the Fulda Ecotonn 2 trailer tyre being introduced last year and we will continue the successful history of Fulda in the future by introducing new truck tyres to the market,” said Benjamin Willot, Director Marketing Commercial Tires Goodyear Europe, Middle East and Africa. “Its marketing slogans - ‘German High Technology’ and ‘Black, Wide and Strong’ – underline the values of the brand, which are quality at an affordable price.”
The company called Gummi Werke Fulda was founded on August 3rd 1900, making rubber products. The first tyres produced by the company were for prams and horse-drawn vehicles. Car tires, as well as those for motorcycles and bicycles, were introduced in 1906 and became the main focus of the company’s activities. Between 1907 and 1909, Fulda produced solid rubber truck and bus tyres in 10 different sizes and at that time exported tyres to bus companies including those in London and Milan. In 1914 Fulda developed the first solid tyre made of synthetic rubber (Buna). At this time production converted from solid tyres to more elastic types for commercial vehicles and the company gained a reputation for above average mileage from its products. 1915 marked the beginning of modern Fulda truck tyres: the Fulda Sembusto truck tyre with springs in the rim for additional cushioning was brought to serial production. The next technological step was 1919 with the Fulda “Riesenkissenreifen” (large cushion tyre). This tyre featured patented technology that increased the tyre’s shock-absorbing capabilities, giving trucks the ability to reach much higher average speeds than were previously possible. It became the leading truck tyre in Europe. Under license, other tyre makers adopted this technology.
Further development followed and in 1925 the Fulda Parabel became the world’s first “constant pressure” truck tyre, being a full rubber tyre with an interior air chamber. In 1929 the Fulda Elastic truck tyre was launched, becoming the company’s first inflatable pneumatic tyre. Within a short time, all Fulda production tyres were pneumatic and commercial vehicle tyres continued to be an important part of the Fulda range throughout the following decades. As the market continued to develop, between 1927 and 1932 the company progressively converted from the production of solid tyres to pneumatic tyres and close links were formed with Frank Seiberling, co-founder of Goodyear. In 1938 truck tyre production increased and Fulda became recognised as a manufacturer of quality heavy-duty tyres.
Fulda’s recognition was illustrated in 1954 when the 50,000th Mercedes Benz truck rolled off the production line on Fulda tyres. Innovation continued to be part of Fulda’s DNA in 1961 when textile belted tyres for both cars and trucks went into production. The following year Fulda became part of the Goodyear family. Fuldasteel full-steel belted truck and bus tyres were introduced in 1967, and in 1973 series production of steel radial tyres for trucks commenced. An important milestone that underlines the high quality offered by Fulda products was in 1993 when Fulda became the first Goodyear plant on the European mainland to receive the DIN ISO 9002 quality certification for production and assembly.
Today Fulda is a key member of the Goodyear family and continues to be an important brand in its portfolio. Fulda’s tradition of innovation has continued into the 2010s, underlining the value of 115 years of experience at the forefront of tyre development, particularly with regard to commercial vehicle tyres.
