The UK’s largest wholesaler, Stapleton’s acknowledges this growing interest in SUV tyres while adding that uncertainty in our domestic market as inflation rises, sluggish growth, and the reduced value of the pound are adding to the case for cheaper products in the SUV/4×4 segment. The wholesaler backs up Goodyear’s point that the current market has been good for premium brands, with demand for such products strong in the SUV/4×4 segment.
In any sphere of driving, from motorsports to day-to-day motoring, peak performance doesn’t come cheap – and that goes for the tyres as much as for the vehicles themselves. After all, when you’ve invested in a prestige, state of the art vehicle you won’t want to sully its perfection with tyres that are in any way inferior to those fitted as original equipment – especially since they’re the parts transmitting your vehicle’s raw power to the tarmac and turn it into adrenaline and acceleration.
Almost 10 years on from the trauma of the global ‘credit crunch’ and we’re still not entirely free of the economic aftershock. The resulting times of austerity have made for tough competition for every pound in the motorist’s pocket – and the forecasts suggest even more tough times ahead. In a trade as utterly international as the tyre industry the outcome of the 23 June referendum on the EU was always going to have profound effects – and the marginal victory for the Brexit side predictably has caused dramatic weakening of the pound against both the Euro and the dollar.
Commenting the quality of car tyres available on the market in general, Stapleton’s representatives quoted a motoring journalist by way of response: “The only point of contact between your car and the road, your tyres, can save your life or end it, whether you’re an average Joe or the star of a Hollywood action franchise.’ Ryan McElroy, Carkeys.co.uk, September 2016.
Stapleton’s states that it has for several years engaged in expansion, rationalisation and consolidation of its nationwide distribution operation. As a result, the wholesaler says its new regional hubs and larger delivery fleet are yielding advantages for retailer customers. Wholesale director Nigel O’Hara said the company’s “constant focus on our retailers’ individual needs… sets us apart.” The company’s recent efforts have been in translating the benefits of being a national distribution operation to “real competitive benefits” on a local and personal basis.”
The Tyre Industry Awards have been presented for 2016 during the sold-out NTDA Annual Dinner, this year hosted by the Vox Conference Centre on the site of Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre. In addition to the various gongs, the NTDA presented Sir Tom Farmer with the National Chairman’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Tyre Industry, sponsored by Hankook UK, while Brian Funnell and Lennie Wells were also made NTDA Honorary Life Members. Presented by television personality Suzi Perry, the winners were decided by a panel of leading industry judges, and the results live-tweeted by Tyrepress via its Twitter feed.
At the start of the year, the British car industry revelled in optimism that an all-time vehicle production record would be achieved by 2020 in the UK. The 900,000 cars rolling off the UK’s production lines in the first half 2016 – a sixteen-year high and 13 per cent up on the same portion of 2015 – gave more reason to be hailing this new dawn, and while a significant measure of doubt was added by Brexit, the figures suggest that the growth has come with premiumisation and a sustained boom in SUV manufacturing. High-end marques such as Range Rover drive this new demand and have made the UK Europe’s second biggest premium car producer. In 2010, the premium sector accounted for just 34 per cent of UK production; should trends continue, by 2020 this figure is expected to hit 54 per cent, with SUV and 4×4 models a big part of this.
After years in the making, Stapleton’s is releasing TyreSurf – an e-commerce system designed to help tyre retailers boost profits – on a widespread basis. In short, TyreSurf acts as the retailer’s own bespoke branded, website specially created, maintained, and linked into Stapleton’s. Stapleton’s sees the latest development as “almost certainly the company’s greatest e-commerce innovation since the introduction of ProfitLink at the turn of the millennium”.
For a nation so interested in weather that its obsession has become a national cliché, the UK winter tyre market has continued to elude growth, yet this is not preventing wholesaler Stapleton’s from continuing to make the case for winter tyres. The company stocks a range of premium and house brand seasonal fitments, in which it continues to see potential from both a driver safety and dealer profit perspective. Following the UK’s wettest June since records began in 1910, giving us the impression of a very short-lived summer, Stapleton’s suggested that perhaps it won’t be too much of a wrench to turn our thoughts to the coming winter, the challenges it brings for drivers, and the opportunities for tyre retailers that come in the form of winter tyre sales.
European Tyre Enterprises Ltd (ETEL) CIO and commercial director, Steve Parker is to leave the company. Parker, who has been with the business for over 30 years (first at Stapleton’s and latterly at ETEL), is taking a break from the industry to “spend time with his family and pursue other interests”.
Leading national wholesaler Stapleton’s Tyre Services reports that, while the company stocks all the best known brands, in recent years “some excellent alternatives of HP and UHP have been introduced into Stapleton’s stable”. This applies across all price point, but – say company representatives – retailers’ wishes steers the development of the company’s UHP tyre offering.
Leading wholesaler offers multiple SUV/4×4 options Stapleton’s is offering to help retailers get up to speed for what the wholesaler believes will be an “SUV/4×4 tyres bonanza”. Their optimism is based on the fact that, after the turn of the New Year, the British motor industry announced that it is accelerating towards an all-time record […]
Stapleton’s has restated its commitment to the constant development of its passenger car tyre offering. “What we’re incessantly asking ourselves is ‘who exactly are we doing all this for?’” says Nigel O’Hara, Stapleton’s wholesale director. “And the answer is, that everything we do is for our retail partners first and foremost – and by extension […]
Stapleton’s says its own extensive delivery fleet has informed its approach to the van and light commercial vehicle market; from the large fleet manager to the man in a van, a van off the road is a van that is losing money. The tyre wholesaler states that the cost and potential damage to customer relations of a van being out of action means the retailer needs to offer the right tyre quickly.
Puns aside, 1 November 2014 was a significant day for the UK tyre industry – and indeed for everyone who uses the roads – as it brought with it the legal requirement for all new vehicles produced and sold in Europe to be fitted with a TPMS (Tyre Pressure Monitoring System). And although these systems are hardly new – Stapleton’s suggests this legislation “heralds a quiet revolution that’s sure to have a dramatic impact on tyre retail and indeed the motor vehicle industry as a whole”.
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