The Tire Review team has done an amazing job producing the 2019 Tire Review Sourcebook that’s chock full of industry information. While it showcases the same abundant data, statistics and information to which you’ve become accustomed, it is presented in an easier-to-comprehend, more user-friendly format. The charts and data have been streamlined so that you can easily find the information that’s most useful to your business.

Within the Sourcebook, there are several indicators that shed a positive light on our industry and will lay the foundation for plentiful tire replacements and aftermarket service and repair opportunities. How you analyze and use the data and position your dealership to take advantage of these industry barometers will determine the level of impact they will have on growing your business for the long term.

Looking at the big picture data presented in the Auto Industry At-a-Glance section, here are some highlights that can help you better gauge tire inventory demands and pinpoint the most popular vehicle applications now and in the near future:

• Average Vehicle Age and Miles Driven: Older vehicles that continue to rack up miles need more tender loving care and repair, and tire service/replacements.
• Top 10 Passenger Car & Light Truck Registrations in the U.S.: The overall number of new light vehicle registrations totaled 17.1 million in 2018. This represents the vehicle pipeline for ongoing tire replacements and service and repair opportunities. The top 10 passenger cars for 2018 represented 42.9% of total new passenger car registrations, with import nameplates manufactured by Toyota, Honda and Nissan holding the top six positions. The top 10 light truck registrations made up 35.9% of total new light truck registrations with three of the top five being domestic models from Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge.

Turning to the data in the special sections, here’s a glance at what you’ll find:

• Regional Tire Fitments Report: This section details the top five tire fitments in the passenger car and light truck segments within the five U.S. regions. It also includes a breakdown of dealer perceptions and ratings of passenger car tire brands within the same five regions.
• Tire Review Dealer Study: We explore the many business aspects of owning and operating a tire dealership, including in-bay productivity, number of bays, the owners’ role in the business, gross profit margin, tire dealers’ major business concerns and more. In the service report section of this study, we learn from our respondents about dealers’ average gross profit margin on vehicle service and other retail sales, where they buy their parts, the types of service jobs they perform and what dealers identified as their top technician training sources.
• Consumer Study – Buying Behaviors: In this section, we provide data related to what factors influence the consumers’ tire purchase decision process to know how to better communicate and engage with them.
• Tire Brand Studies: Here we take a look at dealers’ perceptions about the brands of consumer and commercial tires based on different criteria, including brand profitability, fill rate, consumer awareness and application coverage.

Use this data that’s tailored to the automotive and tire industry landscape to better understand the market dynamics affecting your business. Then, leverage these insights to fine-tune your inventory and better serve your customers, hone your business strategy and operations to capitalize on the trends and forecasts that are on the horizon, and watch your profitability increase — with every well-educated business decision you make.

Special thanks to Bruce Kratofil, market research manager, Babcox Media; Steve Schroeder, president of Marketplace Insights; The Fitment Group; IHS Markit; The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association; and especially the entire Tire Review team for their diligence in creating an issue of this magnitude — hopefully one you use, reference often and revere as an integral component of business operations profitability.