Dunlop Tires are well known throughout the world. The company is a partnership between two different companies, the Japanese company Sumitomo Rubber Industry owning twenty five percent, and the British company, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company owning seventy five percent. In the middle of the 1980's, the British Tyre and Rubber Company, Ltd. took over the Dunlop company, and now it is the Sumintomo location in Japan which makes and markets the brand of Dunlop tires. While Sumitomo did not gain control of the company, they did enter into an agreement to include the brand name of Dunlop Tires into their own corporate name about eleven years ago in 1997.

The subsidiary in the United Kingdom changed their name at that time to Dunlop Tyres Ltd. In 1999, another joint venture occurred between the Goodyear Tire Company and Sumitomo, and while all tires that are manufactured in Japan carry the Dunlop name, it is the United Kingdom's Goodyear Tyre Ltd, that still owns seventy five percent of the market shares for the tires distributed through Europe and North America. The UK company has manufacturing plants located all over the world, and when the Washington, USA plant closed just four years ago, all tire production in the United Kingdom ceased.

There is a plant still in Birmingham, however they are very specialized, focusing on vintage tires for motorcycles and cars as well as about thirty thousand of the racing tires that are manufactured and distributed all over the world each year. The plant in Birmingham has their own warehouse, and their own specialized shipment center, and now, located within the compounds of the plant are high end hotel accommodations, offices and residential living spaces. The company has remained ahead of the other companies over the years, through their commitment to quality products and their highly competitive sales team. They import and export their well known brand name tires in many countries of the world, and they will continue to find success in the future to come.