Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co has recorded a fall of 12 per cent in total tire sales to 41.8 million mainly due to a decline in demand in Europe, during the third quarter of the year.

The revenues of the firm fell 13.2 percent to $5.26 billion from $6.06 billion during the same quarter in the previous year. The net income fell 30.4 percent to $117 million compared to $168 million earlier. Earnings per share were recorded at 41 cents compared to 60 cents during the third quarter of the previous year.

Chief Executive Richard Kramer said that the company is not expecting a significant improvement in business in the coming months. The company expects its fourth-quarter volume to drop 3 percent to 5 percent compared to the same quarter earlier due to expectations of continued slowdown in European markets.

Meanwhile, in North America, which is the company's largest market, the sales fell 6 percent to 15.6 million and the revenues fell 6 percent to $2.4 billion. The operating income grew 67 percent to $130 million mainly due to lower raw material costs.

The company also said that it is expanding its cost-cutting initiative after it was able to achieve a target of $1.1 billion in savings earlier than expected.