Magazine for the professional tire industry
Issue link: https://mtd.epubxp.com/i/148910
Your turn Reader asks, 'Will customers be smiling after their next tire purchase?' Dear Editor: Automobile manufacturers continue to add tire sizes and specialized options in their requirements for original equipment (OE) ftments. Tis has also required the tire manufacturing industry to build more sizes, speed ratings and ftments to stay up with the ever-changing landscape of SKU assortment. For those of us who have been in the tire industry for a long time, we would love to go back to the days of 20 to 30 SKUs that would ft every car or truck on American roads. Unfortunately, the good old days are gone forever. Te tire industry has defnitely changed! Te latest trends are "green" technology and additions of high performance (HP) and ultra-high performance (UHP) tires from every tire manufacturer. With the latest trends, is there a slowly building fre storm of reaction by the end user, the customer, who buys these tires at the retail outlet? 'Will our product screen become good enough-best instead of good-better-best?' As tire sellers, we tend to salivate at the thought of UHP tires that last 20,000 miles. Who in their right mind wants tires that last 100,000 miles? Te faster the tires wear out, the more tires we get to sell. We know that the industry has seen its challenges in the last few years. Raw material cost increases, increased regulation, tarifs, and across-the-board price increases have pushed tire prices to a level that is unafordable for many in the depressed economy of the last four to fve years. As more and more HP and UHP tires are built, there will be some economies of scale that should bring the prices down, but will the price reductions be enough to get the average consumer's atention? Here is the problem: Customers are searching for and purchasing used tires at a level we haven't seen in 40 years. Nationwide, states are considering all kinds of legislation to regulate or ban used tire sales. Shouldn't that tell us how price sensitive customers are in today's environment? As tires have increased in price, and ftments to match the new vehicles are being changed to more high performance tires, the prices of tires have escalated, while the life of the tires has been reduced. How will the end users react? You may have already talked to the guy who purchased a really sporty, high performance Chevrolet Camaro and now has to replace his tires. Out of pocket, he is going to spend $800 to $1,200 www.moderntiredealer.com for a set of four tires. Tis is the guy who can barely aford the payment and insurance on his high profle automobile. When he prices tires, they will probably be wishing they were driving a Ford Fiesta. Te tire industry may be seting itself up for a groundswell of negative consumer reaction. Te other possibility for the major tire manufacturers is that they will inadvertently drive more consumers to imports and "cheap" tires. We are seeing a flood of imported tires, especially since the expiration of the tarif. Is this the first sign that the consumer will dictate the future of the tire industry by voting with their pocketbook? We, in the tire industry, continue to talk about the "good-beter-best" product screen. In the past we have flled our inventory to match this model. For the short term it appears that our product screen may become, "good enough-best." For people who have the money, price is not necessarily a factor. For people who are fnancially struggling like never before, used tires or "good enough" tires seem to be their only option. Certainly the economy is driving much of this price sensitivity. However, we should all be aware of the response of the customer to the increased ticket price of the ofering of HP and UHP product lines. Tires are designed to roll safely and efciently down the road, while puting a smile on the driver's face. Performance and handling are great, if you can aford it. Tat smile on the customer's face can soon disappear when they discover what it costs to replace their tires. Jerry Wright, President Burggraf Tire Corp. Quapaw, Okla. 'Remanufacturing' is a much beter term Dear Editor: Your June 2013 article on aircraf tires ("Up, up and away! Aircraf tires are unique, so is their distribution") did not suffciently cover the technological and economical importance of aircraf tire retreading. In March 1984, I called it "tire remanufacturing," a much 91