Half of dealers expect tire sales to improve

Oct. 20, 2014

Half of dealers expect tire sales to improve in the next six months, 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 demand for replacement tires remained positive for the seventh straight month. Dealers sold 0.1% more tires in August on a year-over-year basis, following a 0.4% increase in July and a 0.7% increase in June.

“According to our dealer survey, 50% of passenger tire dealers believe business will improve over the next six months, while 38% believe it will stay about level and 12% believe it will worsen. Meanwhile, half of the truck tire dealers we surveyed see business improving, and the other half believe it will stay about level,” says Mitchell.

Dealers also told Mitchell manufacturer pricing on branded continued to stabilize in August:

* the effective price for top-selling branded tires fell less than 1%;

* 40% of respondents said their effective cost of branded tires increased;

* manufacturer pricing on value tires fell 3%.

For details on what dealers said about retail prices, costs, inventory levels and service sales, see the latest Your Marketplace column on page 18 of the digital or print edition of the October issue of MTD.