Tyre makers weary of producing large-diameter tyres

By Lisa Hockensmith, Automotive News

Las Vegas, Nevada -- Extreme tyre diameters may have run their course.

Tyre diameters touted at the annual Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show over the past few years seemed to be widening. But in reality, tyre makers were looking to the moment when the wheels were so big they made the tyre lose its effectiveness.

At the SEMA show here last month, some tyre manufacturers suggested that moment may have come. For others, the possibility is still out there.

Hankook Tire America Corp., of Wayne, New Jersey, showed a 30-inch tyre that will be available in the first quarter of 2006.

Enough 'bling'

"That's the impossible question," Hankook Marketing Director Bill Bainbridge told Tire Business (also published by Crain Communications) "Five years ago people thought 20 and 22 inches was the limit. Then it was 24, 26 was the limit. Now 28, 30 is the limit. You never know.

"The technology exists to go bigger, but is there enough 'bling' kind of consumer that will spend for the technology? Because it's obvious when you get up over 28 inches it's going to be limited and very, very exclusive with limited production runs."

The approximate retail cost of a set of 30-inch Hankook tyres? $2,000.

At Toyo Tire (U.S.A.) Corp.'s booth, Dana Zamalloa, senior marketing communications manager, said the flurry of size increases finally could be hitting a roadblock. She said plus-sizing is running out of room amid safety and ride-control concerns. She said Toyo, of Cypress, Calif., did extensive tests before launching its 20-inch tyres in the past.

"There are some sizes we will not go with," she said, pointing at 26- and 28-inch diameters. Toyo's largest light-truck tyre size is 24 inches.

Frenzied demand

Market demand has been frenzied for larger tyre and wheel packages, but Zamalloa said that the introductions might finally slow down.

"We're pretty much tapping out," she said. "There's not much more plus-sizing that can be done. We are definitely coming to the end of plus-sizing."

John Soule, Michelin brand category manager for light-truck tyres at Michelin North America Inc., said the Greenville, South Carolina, tyre maker is conservative in plus-sizing because its strategy is to enhance vehicle performance and safety, not degrade it.

"We can't just put up 28s that we know do degrade the performance of the overall vehicle and the safety," Soule said. "We won't go there."

From a dollars-and-cents perspective as well, he said the large investment in developing the tyres is hardly paid off by the small volume sold. "The only way you can justify it from a business standpoint is the halo effect," Soule said. "And quite frankly, how can you measure that is the million-dollar question."

He said that Michelin doesn't need to chase that market because it's already well established.

From Automotive News (A Crain publication)