It’s amazing what a year will do. Last year we saw the direct impact of tightened tire supplies and – at least on the consumer side – sharply reduced retail tire sales. This year, dealers responding to our 20th annual Tire Brand Study showed greater appreciation for second and third tier tire brands, which stepped up to fill product screen holes left by higher-priced, lower fill rate majors.
Every year since 1992, Tire Review has asked North American tire dealers to rate the performance of the tire brands – consumer and medium truck – they regularly carry and sell.
Click here to see the 2012 Tire Brand Study
Whether the customer is across the retail counter or a busy truck fleet, dealers depend on the “value” of the brands they represent and what they deliver – in real terms – to the end-user. Tiremakers, conversely, depend on dealers to carry their marketing and technology messages to those end-users. And it appears this year that some manufacturers are falling flat.
Tire Review’s annual Tire Brand Study is not a scientific research project; it only measures dealer opinions and perceptions about the brands they offer. Dealers were not permitted to comment on brands they did not carry, and consumers and end-users were not polled. No tires were physically tested.
Tire Review collected and analyzed dealer responses from some 2,000 completed telephone surveys of retail and commercial tire dealers, and measures were taken to ensure a fair sampling of dealers geographically and to limit the impact of large regional or national dealerships.
The results published here obviously do not include all brands mentioned; to make this list, a consumer brand had to have at least 40 mentions, and a medium truck tire brand needed at least 20 mentions. Bold entries indicate the 2011 category leader.
Dealers were asked to rate each brand of tires they regularly carried on a 1 to 10 scale – 10 being highest – on a series of categories. An aggregate overall score for each brand was calculated, averaging the results from each category.
Tire Review’s Brand Study results are available by contacting Bob Roberts, research manager, at 330-670-1234 ext. 252, or by e-mailing [email protected].
To see previous years’ Brand Studies, click here.