When customers arrive at your tire dealership ready to buy replacement tires for a CUV or SUV, guiding them through the selection process might seem akin to searching for a needle in a haystack.
Modern Tire Dealer broke down the CUV and SUV tire segments by asking three all-important questions covering the forecast for the next five years, product mix, and where there’s the greatest growth. Nineteen tire makers weighed in.
Over the last five years, Modern Tire Dealer has written regularly on the CUV (crossover utility vehicle) tire segment, based on the popularity of CUVs.
Open Country light truck tires account for more than half of Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp.’s consumer tire sales. They may account for even more following the introduction of the Open Country Q/T and C/T.
Yokohama Tire Corp. (YTC) has introduced the Geolandar A/T G015 in 60 sizes with a 60,000-mile tread wear warranty for P/E-metric sizes and 50,000-mile warranty for LT-metric and high flotation sizes.
When the Falken brand was born in 1983, it catered to the performance market. The brand made a name for itself on vehicles like the Mazda RX7, Datsun 200 Series and Toyota MR2.
Expect to stock, and sell, more do-it-all tires for today’s want-it-all consumers. Crossover utility vehicle (CUV) owners demand comfortable, smooth rides; but they also want to haul lumber from the hardware store on the weekend. They expect the fuel-efficiency of a sedan, but are looking for more space so there’s room for neighbor kids to tag along on an afternoon adventure. They like the view from seats that are higher, but don’t want the rough ride of a truck. In short, they want it all.