American Kenda Rubber Co. Ltd. might be – by its own admission – an “underdog” player in the light truck tire segment. But the company says its light truck tire sales are growing.
“We are a 1.5% to 2% market share brand” despite having “only been in the light truck tire segment for a little over 20 years,” Brandon Stotsenburg, the vice president of Kenda’s automotive division, told attendees of the company’s recent light truck tire “boot camp” event in Arizona.
According to Stotsenburg, Kenda has been picking up extra steam in the light truck tire segment since 2016 - after updating its light truck tire lineup - and has continued to make progress.
“We’ve turned over all of our light truck patterns and we’ve added new products every year over the past four years. We’ve had double-digit increases in our product sales.”
In 2022, year-to-date, Kenda’s light truck tire sales are up “about 15%,” he added.
The “underdog” brand
“Underdog” was a common phrase uttered by Kenda officials during the multi-day boot camp event.
Stotsenburg told attendees that pandemic-related production delays held up the launch of the Kenda Klever M/T 2 KR629, which originally was scheduled to be released this summer after debuting at the 2021 Specialty Equipment Market Association Show.
“The product is going to be completed and rolling out with 33 sizes by the end of 2022,” said Stotsenburg.
“And as we do that, we anticipate that the tire is going to exceed what we sold in the older product - the original Klever M/T - that is now going to be discontinued.”
During the boot camp event, Al Henderson, senior engineer and automotive team leader at Kenda, walked dealers through how Kenda’s products are engineered and made.
The event also included plenty of time behind the wheel for participating Kenda tire dealers. They spent two days driving on several Kenda light truck products.
Continued growth
“Our R/T product has been exceptional and it continues to grow ... year after year," said Stotsenburg.
He expects that growth will continue even if the U.S. economy finds itself in a recession next year.
“We think that value-priced products, like Kenda’s, are going to have an uplift as people are looking for products to put on their vehicles during a time when money is tight.”
Stotsenburg also believes the company’s mud-terrain light truck tire sales will make a recovery after the Klever M/T 2 KR629 fully rolls out.
And tire dealers will continue to play a key role in Kenda’s success, he said.
