If you’ve needed to change a tyre lately, you may have been confronted by a space saver in the boot – or no spare tyre at all. Pressure to reduce vehicle weight, combined with increasing tyre reliability and a growing reluctance (or inability) amongst motorists to actually change a flat tyre, has seen the number of new cars equipped with a full-size spare fall dramatically in the past few years. Previewing a new market research report during last month’s Tire Technology Expo conference, Notch Consulting Inc president Paul Ita noted that while 68 per cent of cars produced in 2008 came with full-size spares, this number had slid to 48 per cent four years later, and he projects that by 2017 only 41 per cent of new cars will still be sold with a full-size spare.