For the last 10 years, Tire Review editors have shined a clear spotlight on the issues, people, companies and products we think will have a significant impact on the North American tire market in the coming year. Sometimes we’ve been right, sometimes we’ve been dead wrong, and sometimes we have really been out there – but for the past decade Tire Review’s annual Market Influencers has become the best read, most referenced and most discussed part of our annual Sourcebook.
Tire Review’s Market Influencers was the first to recognize the impact of China and its growing tire industry, the first to point out the upward pressure raw materials costs would place on dealers, the first to reveal the real impact of this nation’s economic mess, the first to discuss hybrid vehicles, globalization, trade unions, super wide tires, capacity issues and much more.
As you will quickly see, this year’s Market Influencers is weighted heavily on issues related to the global economic meltdown and its potential ramifications. And there are a number of new entries that we think will have a prolific impact on our industry. Plus, we’ll take a look back at last year’s list to see how well our predictions fared. Hint: We had a pretty good year!
Click here to see 2009 Market Influencers
This a purely subjective list, determined by the editors from a list of suggestions gathered over the past year. Tire Review’s editor makes the final selection.
Agree? Disagree? Whichever side you are on, we’d love to hear your take on Market Influencers. Letters, e-mails or phone calls are always welcome. And if you have some candidates for next year’s list, please pass them along.
