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Dunlop Far East was founded in 1909 in Kobe, Japan, by the British trading house H. & W. Greer, Ltd. — established in London in 1904 by brothers Harry Greer and William Greer, with a Japanese operation, H. & W. Greer Japan, founded in Kobe in 1906. Greer had already built a factory in Kobe for J. G. Ingram & Son in 1908 which was absorbed into Dunlop Far East from 1911. In 1916, George Millward negotiated to buy out H. & W. Greer's shareholding and took control of the company's management. It was reorganised in March 1917 as a Japanese company with a capital of 1.8 million yen, and in 1918 absorbed the assets of a dissolved Hong Kong–registered predecessor.
From 1958, Dunlop sought a Japanese partner to help fund an expansion of Dunlop Japan's production, and in 1960 gave Sumitomo Electric and Sumitomo Shōji a combined 28.6 per cent stake in the company. Ownership shifted further in 1961 to a 50-50 Anglo-Japanese split, and in October 1963, unable to fund further expansion without ceding majority control, Dunlop transferred management rights to Sumitomo Electric and renamed the company Sumitomo Rubber. Dunlop retained a 44 per cent stake and agreed a new twenty-year technical tie-up.
In 1985, when Dunlop Rubber was taken over by BTR plc, the company acquired the automobile tire assets of Dunlop, including the right to use the Dunlop brand on automobile tires. The acquisition did not include the US and Australian businesses, which were separately owned, but in 1986 Sumitomo also acquired the Dunlop Tire Corporation of the US from its management.
In 1997, Sumitomo formed a joint venture with Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, by which Goodyear and Sumitomo agreed to manufacture tires for each other's markets, including Dunlop branded tires. As part of the agreement, Goodyear acquired 75% interests in Dunlop Tyres, the UK company which Sumitomo had formed, and in Dunlop Tire Corporation. Goodyear and Sumitomo also made investments in each other.
On 14 February 2014, Goodyear announced its intention to dissolve its partnership with Sumitomo due to alleged "anticompetitive conduct". On June 4, 2015, Goodyear announced the end of its joint venture with SRI, effective end of year 2015. The brand Dunlop will be shared between the 2 companies:
in North America, Goodyear will control the Dunlop brand for replacement tires and for new cars made by non-Japanese auto makers. Sumitomo Rubber will hold rights to the Dunlop brand for new cars made by Japanese auto makers, as well as for motorcycles;
in most parts of Europe (including Dunlop's home country Ireland), Goodyear will control the Dunlop brand; and
in Japan, Sumitomo Rubber will retain rights to the Dunlop brand.
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In December 2013 Sumitomo Rubber Industries acquired Apollo Tyres South Africa (Pty) Ltd from Apollo Tyres, which owned the Dunlop tyre brand in South Africa, as part of its strategic global development plans. It subsequently renamed the company Sumitomo Rubber South Africa (Pty) Ltd.
Sumitomo Rubber South Africa manufactures the Dunlop, Sumitomo and Falken passenger car tyre brands in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal.
The Ladysmith plant began to produce Dunlop truck and bus radial tyres in July 2018, following the second of two large investments by Sumitomo Rubber Industries to upgrade and modernise the plant.
Dunlop truck and bus radial tyres produced in Ladysmith will be sold in the South African market and will also be exported to several African states from 2019.
From Wikipedia’s article on Sumitomo Rubber Industries, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5