The replacement car tyre sector ended the year on a high with its strongest showing in the fourth quarter, chalking up a total of USD78 million of sales in just the Klang Valley alone from October to December 2010.
“It’s not unusual for quarter four to register stronger demands as major festivities like Hari Raya, Christmas and school holidays all take place during the last few months of the year. In preparation for heavier usage of their cars for visitations and long drives, car owners tend to send their vehicles for their due servicing which includes replacing their worn out tires, around this period of time,” said Jennifer Chan, General Manager of GfK Malaysia, the company that compiled the information regarding the sales.
It was a very fruitful year for the replacement car tyre industry on a whole last year as a total of 3.6 million units of replacement tyres valued at USD252.3 million were sold in the Klang Valley alone. The industry is growing as well, with the fourth quarter performance increasing by 22 per cent in volume compared to the same period in 2009.
Nonetheless, the individual market share between tyre manufacturers has also been seeing a shift with American and European brands gaining ground on the stronghold of Japanese and local manufacturers.
In the fourth quarter, despite the increase in sales, the Japanese and local manufacturers of tyres registered losses in market share compared to the previous quarter. However, the American and European brands gained considerable traction in the segment with a combined increase of almost five per cent in market share.
One of the notable trends lately has been the proliferation of Chinese branded tyres in the local market.
“As in many other industries where we see increasing presence of Chinese brands, a similar trend is also surfacing in the replacement car tire market in Malaysia. Of the total recorded tire brands tracked by GfK, nearly a fifth were Chinese brands. No doubt the combined sales of China-made replacement tires are still insignificant at this point in time, but they are due to make a huge impact in the long run. Until then, the replacement car tire market will continue to be dominated by local and Japanese players,” said Chan.
Source: GfK
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