Most car owners usually start changing winter tires in March, but this year March proved to be unusually cold, which delayed the change. Vilmos Tokaji, head of sales at Continental Hungaria Kft., told business daily Világgazdaság that buying summer tires and changing them started almost one month later than usual this year. But, based on feedback from resellers, this yearʼs spring could generate the highest revenues in the last ten years, Tokaji added.
In some cases, customers had to wait two or three weeks to change winter tires to summer rubber. Preliminary data shows that the summer tire market expanded between 3-5% year on year in 2018.
Higher revenues were generated not necessarily by higher sales, but mainly by the increased costs of mounting the tires. Services prices have increased significantly due to labor shortage. In addition, online tire sales are growing, which implies that customers will choose professional services rather than changing tires at home.
New car sales are on the rise, especially for SUVs, which is generating higher sales of 4×4 tires. Overall, the most popular tire size is the 15 inch diameter, Tokaji said.
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