“A sluggish economic recovery in our developed markets and higher inflation in emerging markets have resulted in uneven growth in the tire industry,” Kramer said.  ”We are confident, however, that Goodyear is well positioned to address the volatile demand environment with our strategy of focusing on targeted market segments and ongoing focus on cost reduction and productivity.”

In North America, the consumer replacement industry is expected to be flat to up 2 percent, consumer original equipment up between 5 percent and 10 percent, commercial replacement up between 10 percent and 15 percent and commercial original equipment up between 40 percent and 50 percent.

In Europe, the consumer replacement industry is expected to be up between 4 percent and 6 percent, consumer original equipment up 4 percent to 8 percent, commercial replacement up between 7 percent and 11 percent and commercial original equipment up approximately 50 percent.

Goodyear anticipates its raw material costs for the remainder of 2011 will increase more than 30 percent compared with the prior year.