Shifts in leading tyre manufacturer rankings, 2015-2019
Over the last five years of data collection for the Tyres & Accessories’ ranking of the leading tyre manufacturers, a few trends can be observed – see accompanying graphs for more details. Firstly, it is easy to see that there are a few separate groupings of rival companies within the top ten. In our first chart, we can see that Continental has continued to progress in narrowing the tyre sales gap with Goodyear, partially because Goodyear has yet to regain the level of sales achieved in 2015, despite improved results on its half-decade low in 2017. Tyrepress noted in 2018 that based on tyre volumes, Conti looked likely to overtake Goodyear in light vehicle (passenger car and light truck) tyre volumes, showing how it has gained ground on the previous ‘Big Three’. Regardless of their order, it has been appropriate to talk of a global Big Four tyre manufacturers for a few years.
Continue Reading‘Planning, communication’ help Trelleborg implement plans during pandemic
Trelleborg’s reorganisation, which gave greater prominence to tyres and wheels via its Trelleborg Wheel Systems business, was detailed at the end of February, just prior to the global spread of Covid-19 causing monumental disruption throughout Europe. Tyres & Accessories commented at the time that we planned to meet UK managing director Richard Lyons for the first time since his January appointment at the event in Sweden – as it turned out, Lyons was unable to make the trip for reasons detailed later. At the end of June, T&A met Lyons – fittingly on Microsoft Teams – to discuss how the pandemic has affected the market and the company’s response to the challenges of 2020, in addition to talking about how he is settling into his new role within the company.
Continue ReadingGoodyear Farm Tires continue to grow in UK through pandemic crisis
Titan International has been manufacturing Goodyear Farm Tires in USA for more than a decade. It returned to the European and UK markets last year after Titan purchased the licence. It has also made a significant investment in new plant and equipment to manufacture tyres specifically for the UK and European markets. Lindsay Hart, tyre sales director at Titan Europe and Goodyear Farm Tires, gave Tyres & Accessories an insight into demand for agricultural tyres during the Covid-19 crisis.
Continue ReadingHow the UK aftermarket is enduring Brexit and lockdown weather
The last time Tyres & Accessories took a close look at the aftermarket sector back in July 2019, we took the optimistic view that the UK aftermarket space would be able to weather the Brexit storm. Of course, back then Brexit and trans-Atlantic trade wars were the most significant pressures on aftermarket parts segment. Now, however, things are considerably more complex and unpredictable. So, in this analysis we examine the most recent pre-lockdown data as well the latest mid-lockdown information in order to answer the question: is the UK aftermarket still weathering the storm?
Continue ReadingUHP tyres one-third of European replacement market by 2024: Astutus
Leading tyre market data analyst Astutus Research has predicted that the European trend for higher performance tyres looks set to continue. The analyst’s report, ‘Future Dynamics of the European PCLT Tire Industry’, published in association with Tyrepress, has been updated for 2019 with an eye to the trends of the next five years. The analyst states: “The movement towards tyres with a higher rim diameter is clear within the European PCLT tyre replacement market. This reflects the trend towards larger tyres on new car models and changes in the composition of the car parc, with a greater share of SUVs. The replacement market reflects the changes in the original equipment segment, albeit with a lag.
Continue ReadingGrowth in upper UHP tyre sizes continues
The latest GfK data based on its tyre retail sell-out sources - what it refers to as its panelmarket - shows that UHP tyre sizes, especially above 17, continued to represent a growing market in 2019. The analyst compared UHP tyres, here defined as 17” and above, in the period from January 2018 to December 2018 with January 2019 to December 2019. The first column shows that 17” takes a share of the total tyre market of just over one-fifth (21 per cent). 17” has been a popular size for many years, benefitting from the transition of more compact cars onto higher rim sizes. However, growth in 17” dimensions has now plateaued, with this figure representing no change on the previous year’s data.
Continue ReadingInvestigating the national Police fleet’s tyre demands
During recent weeks and months, the coronavirus lockdown has seen miles-driven figures fall through the floor. However, some fleets don’t stop moving. And, as anyone who has clapped for our carers will tell you, the blue-light services have been as busy as ever. Of course, the medics, police and firefighters rely on tyre technicians to keep them mobile. So, with this in mind, and as part our June magazine’s Fleet Tyre feature, we have been investigating what the blue light fleet’s tyre demand really looks like.
Continue ReadingTyre distributors come together for ‘Kick-starting your business’ webinar
Tyre distributors from across the country have come together to support the restarting of the tyre trade. Large and small retailers from St Helens to the South East worked together to produce the inaugural Tyrepress webinar entitled “Kick-starting your tyre business’.
Continue ReadingFalken: stock availability, proven performance means UHP opportunity
The coronavirus outbreak and subsequent lockdowns mean that sales of car tyres especially have sustained a harsh blow around the world. But as measures introduced to halt the spread of COVID-19 begin to be eased, motorists will steadily begin to use their cars again, increasing demand. In the car tyre sector, high value, ultra-high performance segments could prove vital, as better potential margins offer attractive opportunities for increasing cashflow quicker. The other side of that coin is that motorists’ finances are also under pressure, putting the price they pay for their car tyres under even greater scrutiny. Could this, therefore, present an opportunity for mid-range brands to make a case for their products, offering more palatable performance compromises compared with premium rivals than the lowest-priced brands?
Continue ReadingCoronavirus creates shipping problems for tyre importers
Chinese celebrations of Lunar New Year (25 January) were muted this year by the emerging coronavirus crisis, with the huge amount of personal travel associated with the holiday period down around 45 per cent. Yet global business’s reliance on China’s manufacturing meant that large orders were, as usual, preplanned to take into account the two to three weeks of manufacturing slowdown at this time of year. In the UK tyre sector, the result is that a large number of tyres that will likely exceed some distributors warehousing capacity are now arriving at UK ports. Freight forwarder, Maritime Cargo Services is offering one solution to companies experiencing this problem.
Continue ReadingApril 2020
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Continue ReadingDavanti unveils wave of new product, partnership news at first conference
Davanti marked its fifth anniversary with its first international dealer conference at the end of February. The tyre brand hosted more than 150 attendees by Everton Football Club’s Goodison Park, where it’s development director Gary Cross took the opportunity to announce its upcoming products, including range extensions and what might be called the second generation of Davanti tyres given the new naming conventions first introduced in the Wintoura winter tyre and Terratoura all-terrain 4x4 tyre ranges. Davanti sales director for UK and Ireland Sean Maddocks also presented observations on tyre markets, the development of the brand’s global dealer network over the past five years, and its commercial partnerships including the renewal of its official brand partnership with Everton FC.
Continue ReadingNeroForce: ‘We don’t just want to follow in anybody else’s well-worn footsteps’
A new European developer and distributor of tools, machines and consumables says that it wants to increase the reliability and user-friendliness of retreading equipment. NeroForce, based in Leipheim, Germany, was founded by managing directors Andreas Müller and Martin Kalagin, who between them have more than 25 years of strategic experience of the global retread market, both having worked for Bridgestone, and then B&J Rocket and Marangoni respectively. Thanks to this background, Kalagin told Tyres & Accessories that combining this retreading market experience with a more hands-on view of retreaders’ requirements, NeroForce is well placed to tailor its product range to the needs of today’s retreaders.
Continue ReadingMarch 2020 – Retreading Special
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Continue ReadingMarch 2020
Click on the CONTINUE READING button to view the March 2020 issue of Tyres & Accessories
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