Vredestein: all-season SUV tyre trend favours our specialist range

In January GfK’s “panelmarket” identified SUV tyres and all-season tyres as top two growing sub-segments in 2019. Indeed, since all-season tyre sales have shot up 19 per cent in terms of value and 13 per cent up in volume, the UK market is now selling four times as many all-season tyres as winter tyres sold at their peak. Within this, high performance tyres and bigger size tyres, specifically 17-inch and over, are growing fastest (see separate article for further details).

Such market trends are music to the ears of those at Apollo Vredestein, a company that is well-known for specialising in what are currently the fastest growing and most valuable sectors of the market. Moreover, the recent development and expansion of Vredestein range of all-season tyres for wheel diameters of 17-inches and above, frequently fitted on SUVs, has allowed the manufacturer to offer what it says is “the largest choice (by far) available on the UK market for the two trends combined”.

“We already knew that the all-season tyre sector keeps growing, of course,” said Vredestein UK country manager Karl Naylor, “and take every chance to remind our customers that the rapid increase in demand is perfectly met by our premium product range, whether a popular size or more ‘niche’ requirements are sought. We have also made every effort to improve stock and distribution by making strategic supplier appointments in recent years.”

Last year’s GfK report (2017 vs 2018) showed that SUV tyre sales were mostly responsible for the fast growth of all-season tyre demand. Vredestein’s product mix has, traditionally, always been very attuned to the demands in that segment, and the manufacturer adds that it has “offered all-season tyres in SUV sizes long before” most of its rivals.

Not only has Vredestein got a strong range and brand proposition for the current trends, the company has also developed some award-winning products. For example, at the end of October 2019 Auto Bild made examined five comparative evaluations. These winter and all-season tyre tests were published Auto Bild (issues 39/2019 & 40/2019), Auto Bild Allrad (issues 5/2019 and 11/2019) and Auto Bild Sportscars (issue 11/2019). In short, Vredestein achieved the best all-season tyre braking result with 105.9 per cent, ahead of Goodyear (104.9 per cent) and Continental (104.7 per cent).

In addition, in August 2019 Consumer Reports placed Vredestein first in an exclusive survey, which analysed the purchase decisions of more than 30,000 CR members. Here, Vredestein beat 38 brands to the top spot.