Tire Wholesalers Industry Profile

Companies in this industry distribute new and used tires and tubes for passenger and commercial vehicles. Major companies include American Tire Distributors and TBC Corporation (both based in the US), as well as Bond International (UK), Dynamic Tire (Canada), and PPC Asia (Philippines).

Worldwide tire shipments were projected to increase from 3.4 billion units in 2017 to 3.66 billion units in 2018, representing growth of about 7%, according to Statista. Demand is expected to be strongest in the Asia/Pacific region, particularly China, where the use of motor vehicles is increasing.

The US tire wholesaler industry includes about 2,500 establishments (single-location companies and units of multi-location companies) with combined annual revenue of about $34 billion. Manufacturers' sales branches are included in the industry.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Radical changes in the replacement-tire market threaten to disrupt what traditionally has been relatively stable industry. Manufacturers increasingly are taking control of their own distribution, cutting out wholesalers: Goodyear in 2018 announced that it will no longer use tire wholesale industry leader ATD as a distributor. And while only 7% of replacement consumer tires were sold online in 2017, online tire sales pose a small but growing competitive threat to tire dealers and wholesalers that supply them. Other potential disruptors for tire wholesalers include ride-sharing services, car-sharing services, and autonomous vehicles, which in combination may someday reduce the number of cars on the road and the number of ...