Passenger car tire sales in Malaysia’s central region rises to nearly 1.2 million pieces in first quarter of 2013: GfK

13 May, 2013, KUALA LUMPUR – Rising affluence and car ownership has created a strong demand for passenger car tires in Malaysia’s booming central region. Latest GfK retail audit report showed that sales of passenger car tires in the high traffic states of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor have been rising consecutively in the last two years, with the first quarter of this year reporting a surge of 14.6 percent over the same period in 2012.

Findings also reflected an uptrend in demand for tires with lower aspect ratios, attributed to the growing popularity of lower profile tires such as 55, 50, 45, 40, as well as 35 and below aspect ratios. These segments grew 26 percent in sales volume in the latest quarter; outpacing overall car tire volume growth of 14.6 percent. Lower profile tires which made up 44 percent a year ago has grown to make up over 49 percent of total car tire sales volume.

 

“Tire speed rating trends is moving towards those with higher speed with ‘W’ rated tires increasing in sales importance, as reflected from its escalating contribution towards overall car tire sales volume from 11 percent sales contribution in the first three months of last year to over 12 percent this year,” highlighted Selinna Chin, Managing Director for GfK in Malaysia. “Consequently, the ‘T’ medium speed rated tires correspondingly declined from 11 to 9 percent in sales contribution.”

 

Following the rising popularity of lower profile tires in the Malaysian central region, car tires with rim diameter of 16 inch have emerged as the highest growth segment this quarter, accounting for nearly 18 percent of total sales volume. This has led to a lowered demand for the more traditional 13 and 14 inch rims which contributed to 32 percent in total.

 

GfK findings also reported a steady and gradual increase in the average price of car tires sold within the central region from an average of USD77 per piece in March 2011 to an average of USD100 by March this year.

 

“Newly-launched cars are increasingly being fitted with lower profile and higher speed rate performance tires to meet the demand of users who seek better safety and comfort without having to compromise on performance,” said Chin. “As the number of cars on the road will inevitably continue to grow, this segment’s rising demand will be the driving force behind the healthy performance of the passenger car tire industry in the coming years,” concluded Chin.

About GfK

GfK is one of the world’s largest research companies, with more than 12,000 experts working to discover new insights into the way people live, think and shop, in over 100 markets, every day. GfK is constantly innovating and using the latest technologies and the smartest methodologies to give its clients the clearest understanding of the most important people in the world: their customers. In 2012, GfK’s sales amounted to €1.51 billion.

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*Notes:

Survey period

–               Latest quarter findings : Jan to March 2013

–               Quarter on quarter comparison: Jan – Mar 13 VS Jan – Mar 12