Not quite four years ago Amazon picked its first partner for tire installation and balancing services. Consumers buying any tire on Amazon.com could have it installed at any of that installer’s 400-plus stores. Today, that entire network of stores has closed.
Even as the nation's largest tire dealerships continue growing and acquiring, small, independent tire dealerships with one or two locations remain the dominant players in the market.
We're half way through 2019, and Modern Tire Dealer calculates 26 brands hold at least a piece of the pie — that is, at least 1% of the U.S. replacement truck tire market share.
Here’s a little history lesson for the young people. Bridgestone Corp. was not always the largest tire company in the world. The acquisition of Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. in 1988 helped make it the largest.
An unexpected surge in domestic truck tire demand in the second half led to a record number of replacement truck tire shipments in 2017. Unable to produce enough tires to meet the demand, Tier 1 and Tier 2 manufacturers lost market share versus 2016.
Modern Tire Dealer and tire industry analyst Nick Mitchell have independently reached the same conclusion: Tier 2 and Tier 3 brands outperformed Tier 1 brands through the first 10 months of the year based on unit growth.
Bridgestone Retail Operations LLC (BSRO) is looking to more than double its share of the $10 billion-plus market of providing service and tires to passenger and light truck fleets across the country. If all goes well, the company-owned stores will accomplish that goal by 2020.
Tracking high and ultra-high performance shipments is not as easy as it once was. Fifteen years ago, the definitions were clear: High performance referred to H-rated tires 70-series and under. UHP tires were anything V- and Z-rated. And UHP tires were a niche market, a sub-segment of the high performance category.
