Dealers expect tire sales to remain strong into the early stages of 2014, according to industry analyst Nick Mitchell, senior vice president, research, for Northcoast Research in Cleveland, Ohio, and author of Modern Tire Dealer’s Your Marketplace column.
Mitchell reports that unit sales rose 1.1% during the fourth quarter of 2013. Mitchell’s survey showed passenger tire dealers to be upbeat for 2014:
* 33% believe business will improve over the next six months;
* 56% believe business levels will stay about the same; and
* 11% believe business levels will worsen.
Meanwhile, 51% of truck tire dealers Mitchell surveyed see business improving while 36% believe business trends will stay the same and the rest expect conditions to worsen.
To find out what dealers said about retail prices, costs, inventory levels and service sales, see the latest Your Marketplace column online, or on page 16 of the February digital or print edition of MTD.
