Magazine for the professional tire industry
Issue link: https://mtd.epubxp.com/i/449261
MTD January 2015 H ow many consumer tire brands are available to the independent tire dealer? 50? 100? If you look hard enough, there are more than 100. Te options ap- pear endless. Not surprisingly, the average tire dealer ofers at least 13 brands. Imports are the main reason for brand proliferation. In 2014, U.S. companies imported a record 150.7 million passenger tires and 26.9 million light truck tires. More than 60 million consumer tires were imported from China alone. W hen the tarifs on Chinese tires are fully implemented, perhaps the number of available brands will diminish. But even when the last tarif was at its highest — 35% for most of 2010 — China still exported 31 million consumer tires to the U.S. Ten why are there only three tiers of tires? Te replacement tire market is made up of price points. With so many brands from which to choose, and the increas- ing number of tire segments and sub segments, determining the right brand at the right price suddenly becomes more complicated for retailers. Take into account increasing competition (Amazon.com?!) and the "Good-Beter-Best" method of selling tires can seem antiquated. That is why Modern Tire Dealer believes four tiers are ultimately more accurate and helpful than three. In order to develop four tiers of brands for the U.S. market, we asked the following questions: 1. How is the brand marketed? Tat includes both the promotional aspect of marketing and the tires against which a brand is marketed. For example, associate and private brand tires generally compete against each other in the same tier. 2. What is the selling price of the tire? 3. W hat is the perceived quality? People ofen associate greater expense with greater quality. We also took the following into consideration: OE contracts; place on the manufacturer's own product screen; size of the company; brand recognition; availability; market share (see Chart 8); ultra-high performance tire market share; global presence; domination of a niche market; and whether or not a manufacturer had at least a sales and marketing arm in the U.S. Tier 1 was easy. Michelin, Bridgestone and Goodyear are generally considered to be Tier 1 products by everyone. Tat is why they are the anchor brands of the U.S. market. Tere is a reason they have the most U.S. market share among the major brands. We couldn't list every brand in every tier, but as a general rule, inexpensively priced tires either from China or competing against them would be placed in Tier 4. Facts section: Brand share Tere are 4 tiers, not 3 'Good-Better-Best' still works, but new complications require brand reorganization Chart 8 2014 U.S. REPLACEMENT CONSUMER TIRE BRAND SHARES PASSENGER TIRES (based on 206.6 million units) LIGHT TRUCK TIRES (based on 28.8 million units) Brand % of total Brand % of total Goodyear 13.0% Goodyear 12.0% Michelin 9.0% BFGoodrich 8.5% Bridgestone 8.0% Bridgestone 7.5% Firestone 7.5% Firestone 7.0% Cooper 5.5% Michelin 7.0% BFGoodrich 4.5% Cooper 6.0% Hankook 4.0% General 4.5% Yokohama 4.0% Multi-Mile 4.0% Continental 3.5% Hankook 3.5% Falken 3.0% Toyo 3.5% General 3.0% Yokohama 3.5% Pirelli 2.5% Pirelli 2.5% Toyo 2.5% Kumho 2.0% Kumho 2.0% Mastercraft 2.0% Multi-Mile 2.0% Uniroyal 2.0% Nexen 2.0% Continental 1.5% Primewell 2.0% Cordovan 1.5% Dunlop 1.5% Dunlop 1.5% GT Radial 1.5% Eldorado 1.5% Hercules 1.5% Falken 1.5% Mastercraft 1.5% Hercules 1.5% Sumitomo 1.5% Kelly 1.5% Uniroyal 1.5% Maxxis 1.5% Big O 1.0% Big O 1.0% Cordovan 1.0% Delta 1.0% Delta 1.0% GT Radial 1.0% Fuzion 1.0% Nexen 1.0% Kelly 1.0% Primewell 1.0% Nitto 1.0% Others 7.5% Sailun 1.0% Sigma 1.0% Others 5.0% Brands must have at least 1% of the market to be listed at 1%. 36