K&M Tire Talked Merger, Enhancements at Meeting

During its recent 2026 meeting, K&M Tire Inc. discussed a new merger and operational enhancements it has made to serve customers more effectively.

The event took place in Overland Park, Kan.

Cheryl Gossard, K&M Tire's president, used the occasion to announce K&M Tire's upcoming merger with Zurcher Tire Inc.'s wholesale division, which will go through on Feb. 1

The deal will give Delphos, Ohio-based K&M Tire 52 distribution centers as it brings 12 Zurcher Tire warehouses into its network.

Zurcher Tire’s distribution centers are located in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa – where K&M Tire already has locations - plus Missouri, a new state for K&M Tire.

Zurcher Tire, which was founded in 1948 by Paul Zurcher, is based in Monroe, Ind.

Zurcher Tire’s retail and commercial center in Monroe merged into Best-One Tire Group’s Legacy Best-One organization this past September.

"We’re looking forward to adding Zurcher Tire’s 340 hardworking, knowledgeable, customer-focused employees to the K&M Tire team,” Gossard told MTD.

During an onstage Q&A session, Gossard and Lindsey Beer, chief strategy officer, Best-One Tire, discussed how the deal will benefit the companies' customers.

"We always wanted to be proactive - not reactive," said Beer. "Our family has known Cheryl and Ken (Langhals, K&M Tire's founder and CEO), for about 50 years. We cannot say enough about Ken and Cheryl. This is the biggest decision our family had made, from a business standpoint."

The merger has been in the works for several years, according to Gossard.

"K&M Tire and Zurcher Tire are two very strong companies," she told attendees. "By merging together, we've created a stronger company." (Click here to read MTD's breaking report on the deal, which was published on Jan. 22.)

The two-day K&M Tire event also featured several info sessions and presentations, including a talk about the state of the ag tire market given by Jamey Smart, vice president, North America, Firestone Ag

Despite challenges that are impacting the ag tire market, there are still opportunities for ag tire dealers, he said.

"At the end of the day, we need farmers to grow food" and it's the responsibility of ag tire dealers and manufacturers to help them, Smart told attendees.

During his presentation, Smart said three factors are primarily impacting demand for ag tires in the United States: tariffs, weather conditions and commodity prices.

High input costs, escalating debt and interest rates also are influencing demand, he noted.

"We're seeing fairly high (farm) debt, with interest rates at relatively high levels. The cost of that debt is getting more expensive."

Trade disruptions "are impacting our entire world. They impact crops. They impact the cost of equipment. Farmers are not looking at making significant capital investments" and are instead opting to keep existing equipment running - a trend that will create more opportunities for tire dealers, he noted.

"Expectations are that the ag economy" will continue "to struggle a little bit," Smart concluded.

K&M Tire officials also provided updates on operational enhancements the company has made.

K&M Tire has replaced more than 100 delivery trucks in its fleet over the last 12 months. (The distributor’s current fleet includes 700 to 800 trucks.)

"You are the most important part of our business,” Gossard told attendees.  "It's been that way since day one."