American Tire Distributors Inc. (ATD) will begin selling selected lines of Continental and General brand tires in August.
"We know that a high percentage of new vehicle owners replace their tires with the original equipment brand," says Phil Marrett, ATD´s senior vice president of sales and marketing.
"Continental Tire North America Inc. (CTNA) has established a very strong OE presence for both the Continental and General brands.
"By offering the Continental and General brands, ATD will enhance our service level to our dealer customers."
CTNA Director of Passenger and Light Truck Dealer Sales Jim Seidel says the company´s partnership with ATD "provides an excellent opportunity to expand our replacement tire business in the United States."
General has 4% of the U.S. replacement passenger tire brand market and 5.5% of the domestic replacement light truck tire brand market, according to Modern Tire Dealer statistics.
Continental has 1% of the U.S. replacement passenger market and 2% of the light truck market.
On the OE side, 23% of Ford Motor Corp. light vehicles in the U.S. and Canada come with General brand tires, while 15% are equipped with Continental products. Seventeen percent of General Motors light vehicles come with General tires. And 17% of BMW´s light vehicles in North America sport Continental brand tires at the OE level.
General also has a presence on 49% of Nissan´s domestic light vehicle wheel positions, plus 9% with Toyota in the U.S. and Canada, according to MTD research.
An ATD spokesman said the company is looking into offering the Continental Gold program, which is in the process of being re-worked.
