Replacement Tire Market Worth $15 Billion in the US.

DUBLIN, Ireland--Dec. 22, 2005--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c29945) has announced the addition of Tires in the United States to their offering.

The $15 billion U.S. replacement tire market has grown 34% since 1999. Volume sales benefit from an automobile fleet that is larger and older than any in U.S. history. However, the real growth in the market is increases in spend per tire, with average price per tire rising from $59 in 1999 to $76 in 2005. Increase in prices stems from a variety of drivers:

An increasing number of car enthusiasts

An increasing percentage of light trucks in the automobile fleet

Increasing percentages of sports and luxury vehicles in the automobile fleet

Increasing sales of high performance tires

An increasing number of 45-64 year olds (who are more likely to own sports and luxury cars), who spend more per tire than any other age group

OE equipment moving upscale (consumers often replace the OE with the same tire)

Growth in the number of households with incomes above $75K

The introduction of low-end performance tires, making high-performance tires accessible to a wider audience

Looking forward through 2010, all of these factors can be expected to continue. In particular increases in the number of SUVs in the U.S. automobile fleet, and a wider availability of all-season high-performance tires should drive average price per tire higher.

If the market is to see more rapid growth, suppliers and retailers must persuade consumers that a higher-performance tire is a safer tire. Given the availability entry-level all-season performance tire, this message, if accepted by the public, could result in several years of 5-10% annual growth.

In this report, we clearly identify the principal external factors driving or curtailing growth in the replacement tire market. Exclusive consumer research reveals the attitudes, needs and behavior of consumers, with analysis broken down by demographic characteristics. Six years of specific sales data provide a factual and impartial presentation of the market as a whole. We also evaluate the performance of individual sectors in the market, and provides information about the major companies and brands.

Finally, we use the SPSS forecasting package to create a five-year forecast of U.S. retail sales in the market, revealing potential opportunities for growth and product development.

We define the replacement tire market as those sold as new replacement or winter tread (studded) passenger tires for automobiles, including all cars, station wagons, sedans, pick-up trucks, vans, minivans, and sport utility vehicles (SUVs). P-metric light truck tires are included in the report but light truck tire (LT tires) are not, regardless of whether the LT tire is placed on a non-commercial vehicle or not. This report also excludes the following:

Original equipment (OE) installed during vehicle manufacture

Used and retread tires

Tires sold for commercial trucks, public service vehicles, farming vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles, and non-travel related vehicles including race cars, go-carts, buses, planes, trailers, race cars, golf carts, and building construction vehicles.

Companies Mentioned

Goodyear

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c29945