Tire dealers, manufacturers and others weren’t shy when it came to sharing their thoughts with MTD during 2024, providing a month-by-month snapshot of the industry.
January
“Inventory is still higher than we would want it to be. Entering the slower time of the year, we anticipate prices going down in the early part of the year, with supply on the manufacturer side being higher.” - John Ziegler Jr., vice president of Massillon, Ohio-based Ziegler Tire & Supply Co.
February
“We believe that if the tariffs are passed, we are likely to see production shift to other low-cost, low-tariff countries. While it sounds like an easy solution, we believe that shifting production capacity is no easy task and requires extensive capital investments and projects to get production off the ground.” - John Healy, managing director and research analyst at Northcoast Research Holdings LLC and MTD columnist
March
“When you consider the way we go to market, we don’t own retailers. We don’t own distribution. We rely on our (dealer) partners. What we’ll further invest in is making sure those partners are fully educated so they can explain to customers that not all tires are the same.” - Alexis Garcin, president and CEO of Michelin North America Inc.
“The automotive industry is witnessing a persistent trend toward the adoption of larger rim diameters for wheels and tires by both consumers and OEMs. The shift is particularly notable in the performance tire segment, where there’s a growing emphasis on accommodating higher rim sizes, especially on CUV applications.” - Ian McKinney, senior product manager, Bridgestone Americas Inc.
April
“We’re seeing (customers) keep their vehicles longer, running at higher mileages. We’re seeing cars with as many as 300,000 miles on them.” - Rich Rogenski, co-owner, Westside Tire & Service, a three-store dealership based in Youngstown, Ohio
“I wouldn’t say I’ve seen prices drop, but I’ve seen them hold pretty steady. For a while, they were jumping up every month. It was getting out of control.” - John Wood, sales manager at Warren Tire Service Center Inc.’s location in Queensbury, N.Y.
May
“I see first-hand that independent dealers are in growth mode. M&A activity in 2023 was a net positive for ITDG, as members acquired more locations than we lost to outside acquisition. I believe that trend will continue with our full support.” - Jason Rook, CEO of the Independent Tire Dealers Group LLC
“While an industry-wide deferral and trade-down cycle has lasted longer than most in our industry would have expected, we are navigating weakness in the tire market well with our actions and our recently implemented initiatives.” - Michael Broderick, president and CEO of Monro Inc.
June
“I think demand is returning to pre-COVID-19 levels. We’re not seeing the spikes, high or low, that we saw during the last four years. It’s growing at a normal pace, so we’re reverting back to pre-pandemic business cycles.” - Michael Graber, president and CEO of Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp.
“Overall, it’s a flat market, but the good thing is that the high-value market – what we call the 18- and 19-inch and up market – is showing resilience and is growing. This is extremely positive for us because we play in that market.” - Claudio Zanardo, CEO of Pirelli Tire North America Inc.
“The industry is still kind of recovering from the unevenness of the prior few years and is getting back to some semblance of normalcy.” - Michael Mathis, president, Atturo Tire Corp.
“The projections by the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association for replacement medium truck tire shipments in 2024 are optimistic.” - Seth Kamps, vice president of purchasing and inventory for Byron Center, Mich.-based Wonderland Tire Co.
July
“For passenger and light truck, I think everyone agrees that overall, it’s been a challenging market so far in 2024. A number of influencing factors have caused headwinds on the demand side that have clearly impacted the sell-in side.” - Chris Brackin, president of American Omni Trading Co.
“Some of the supply chain disruptions that everyone experienced prior to 2023 are returning this summer as the ocean carrier cartel continues to raise prices by limiting supply.” - Jimmy Yang, chairman of Kenda Rubber Industrial Co. Ltd.
“The market has been soft. Our expectation is that it will pick up. Whether that makes up for the first half of the year, I think that’s to be determined.” - Adrian Rodriguez, vice president of marketing and retail sales at Commercial Tire Inc.
“We’re very optimistic that we’ll have a good year as a company and as an industry. It’s just not at the increased rate we’ve seen over the last couple of years.” - Daniel Horn, vice president of sales at McCarthy Tire Service Co. Inc.
“Replacing the aging workforce is a big problem right now.” - Pete Kearing, president of Holyoke Tire Group
August
“We forecast that the current economic pressures faced by consumers will continue for at least the remainder of 2024, but there are both macro and micro-economic factors that can bring upon rapid change that we will need to be ready to respond to.” - Keiko Brockel, president and CEO of Nitto Tire U.S.A.
“We are always looking to expand all of our brands and are willing to make significant investments in order to do so.” - David Sorbaro, co-CEO of Mavis Tire Express Services Corp.
September
"Do I want more locations? Absolutely. But I want them to be in the right place at the right price and right now, that’s a little difficult because things are really expensive.” - Beth Barron, CEO of Chabill’s Tire & Auto Service and MTD’s 2024 Tire Dealer of the Year Award recipient
October
“Today, we are taking further steps to position ATD for our next phase as a stronger distribution partner to our manufacturers and customers as we return to our roots and hone our core value proposition as a wholesale distributor.” - Michael Feder, interim CEO of American Tire Distributors Inc., upon the announcement of ATD’s Chapter 11 filing
“External hiring is really hard, so we’re putting a lot of money into our current employees.” - Eric Gill, president of Gills Point S Tire & Auto, which has expanded its footprint by more than 70 stores
November
“You’re going to hear us be much louder and prouder than we’ve been in recent years. We want to support our independent retailers, our own retail network (and) the distributors and help them to not just push, but to get pull from end users.” - Mark Stewart, CEO and president of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
“General inflation is really hurting and impacting our business. Everything just costs more now than it did three to four years ago. That has kind of bogged everything down a little bit — us included.” - Carson Wright, executive vice president, Nebraskaland Tire Co. Inc., dba Nebraskaland Tire, Kansasland Tire and Coloradoland Tire and McWhorters Tire and Service
“We are seeing more specialized products in the market, including EV (electric vehicle)-specific tires, all-weather tires and commercial grade all-terrain tires.” - Drew Dayton, senior product planning manager, consumer tires, Yokohama Tire Corp.
“Keeping the tire industry relevant and exciting is something that will be important for us to focus on as an association.” - Debra Hamlin, president of the Tire Industry Association
“Next year will be very interesting. I’d be surprised to see things take off again and make a u-shape or vertical take-off. If I had to take a guess, the market next year will be flat, but we are going to prepare ourselves to be mobile enough to tackle it — whichever way it goes.” - Brian Chase, president of Rice Tire Co.
December
“The wholesale tire distribution channel continues to face pressure in the second half of 2024. Among other things, shifts in consumer demand, consolidation, e-commerce growth and supply chain changes/disruptions are impacting distributors and the way they do business.” - Ted Becker, CEO of TireHub LLC
“The wholesale tire distribution business is in a state of significant transformation. We believe there will be a desire for more strategic alignment between retailers and manufacturers and national distributors.” - Rodger Smith, chief operating officer at National Tire Wholesale
“Data from the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association shows a notable upward trend in all-weather tire sales, reflecting ... growing demand for year-round dependability.” - Robert Nasca, product training manager, Hankook Tire America Corp.
