You might call them Conti-come-latelys, jumping on the ``super singles'' bandwagon as it's heading out of town, rolling all the way on wide-base truck tires.
But Continental Tire North America (CTNA) Inc. has chosen to take more of a wait-and-see approach toward what one executive calls strictly a ``niche market'' application that might not be right for every customer. ``X'' certainly has marked a spot in the market for Michelin North America Inc., which introduced its X One line of super singles ahead of the pack in 2000 and claims that sales more than double every year. But that hasn't convinced Conti that the market for that type of tire will reach the proportions Michelin seems to be banking on.
Alex Chmiel, manager of commercial tire programs and communications for Charlotte-based Conti, said the company is taking the stance, ``much as Bridgestone/Firestone and Goodyear, for that matter, that this is a niche market.'' CTNA is producing a super single, its HTL1-for Heavy Trailer Long-haul-trailer tire on a limited basis and is rolling it out to some of its national account customers. It also has a drive tire, the HDL1, in testing with some customers and plans to go into production with it in the near future.
The HDL1-for Heavy Drive Long-haul-and its sibling will have a formal debut to the market in the second half of 2006, probably in September, Mr. Chmiel told Tire Business. Until then, CTNA will not release any information on the tires' construction or perceived benefits.
For the HTL1, the company went from field testing directly into a limited production run, aiming the tire strictly for larger national accounts that have been running the Michelin X One, ``to give them an opportunity to try our tire before we do the official launch,'' he said.
Both its wide-base tires-which replace the dual tires in drive and trailer positions-are being targeted at customers that ``can gain the advantages of the super single with the weight and fuel efficiency,'' he said, referring to long-haul customers and some of the longer-haul commodities haulers. But ``we don't believe this is a product that can work in every application out there...due to the tire itself.
``You will gain benefits by weight, so if you haul commodities and are paid by the pound, obviously this will help you out, as well as with fuel economy. But there are some applications in which we don't believe it's going to work, where having a single tire, if you get a puncture, it will be detrimental.''
Conti sees super singles offering two chief benefits, Mr. Chmiel said:
* Weight savings when going from a dual to a single application ``allow a fleet to haul more freight and commodities and make more money,'' he said; and
* Fuel economy: ``We have seen in our testing a lower rolling resistance vs. duals,'' though he couldn't say if the company's HDL1 promises increased mileage because he hadn't seen the engineering data.
The tire maker has not yet set up a price strategy or structure because, Mr. Chmiel said, ``we're selling a handful per month on a special deal basis, on national account pricing.'' From the feedback Conti has received from customers thus far, ``they're very happy with them. In testing, they're running well against the competition.''
However, he said ``some of the customers we tested with had opinions that super singles might not be the way they want to go in their applications. But when compared to the competitions' products, they were favorable about (our tires).'' He would not provide names of any dealerships or fleets using the new tires.
Conti's wide-base tires will be produced at its high-tech plant in Stoecken, Germany, ``in a very special part of our factory that we refer to as our `High Performance Cell,''' Mr. Chmiel said, ``which is where the most advanced technology is used to produce tires.'' There are no plans at this time to transfer production of the new tires to North America.
The HTL1 and HDL1 were designed specifically for maximum performance in the North American market through a global development team that includes members from both Germany and the U.S. The lead engineer on the team is based at the company's North American Tire Technology center in Mount Vernon, Ill.
No special tools are needed for the mounting or servicing of Conti's wide-base tires, which ``mount up with the basic `tire spoons' used for all commercial truck tires,'' Mr. Chmiel said, noting, however, that ``the demounting procedure is a little more difficult. While it can be done with the `tire spoons,' if one uses the higher-end demounting tools, it does make the job significantly easier.''
The tires will be retreadable, he said. ``Just like every other tire, I think Bandag (Inc.) has the super single cap for them, and I'm sure every other retreader does, as well.'' The company will release warranty information at the tire's launch.
CTNA isn't alone in following its competitors' tread prints while slowly testing the waters of super singles' popularity. A Goodyear spokesman said the Akron-based tire maker has developed super single tires, ``but there are no plans to introduce one. We view it as a niche product.''
Asked if the company is willing to relinquish a percentage of the market to its competitors' offerings, the spokesman said: ``We are actively developing our wide-base tires with the goal to be ready with products when the market demands them. The demand is not there at this time.''
Bridgestone/Firestone, on the other hand, began selling its Greatec line of super singles in 2003.
Michelin believes in its X One product strongly enough to devote more than $80 million in three separate investments in new capacity for both new tires and tread rubber.
Mr. Chmiel said Conti has ``seen some interest'' for this type of tire, ``and a lot of it is just curiosity-whether or not a product like this will work for fleets. We're also hearing that some customers would like an alternative to the current brands in the marketplace.''
Some fleets are ``obviously asking for the product, otherwise we would not be producing it,'' he added.
Still, the tire maker anticipates super singles becoming possibly about a third of the marketplace ``over the course of the next five to 10 years-definitely not right away,'' he said.
Some applications where CTNA thinks super singles will be beneficial are liquid bulk haulers and some operations that need additional weight savings, Mr. Chmiel said, ``but we don't feel every fleet out there would benefit from this.''
In the lead up to the tires' official launch, Conti is working up its marketing program, trying to decide ``how to hit the competition,'' he said, and ``whether to go directly against them, or utilize the tires to fill in where our customers would like to use them.''
Snider Tire Inc. in Greensboro, N.C., isn't testing Conti's new tires, but Russ Hunt, senior vice president, is quite familiar with super singles. The dealership has been testing Michelin's X One on several fleets and had just got 200 of them in for an LTL carrier.
Super singles hold a number of paybacks, he acknowledged. ``There are certain configurations of equipment they will benefit more than others,'' especially for fleets concerned with weight sensitivity. ``It could save up to 700 pounds of weight because of less weight in the wheel/tire assembly,'' Mr. Hunt said, ``so that gives them more payload. In some cases they can make fewer trips and have the capability to carry more payload.''
He agreed with Conti's approach that wide-base tires are a niche market and ``not a cure-all. In cases where fleets are trying to save money or make more money, it's probably going to work for them.''
One fleet that apparently is having good luck with super singles is Snider Tire customer Perdue Inc. The poultry producer's feed fleet, according to Mr. Hunt, ``hauls a lot of feed from their distribution point to their feed farms for their chickens and turkeys, and has to carry a certain amount of feed in their hoppers.'' Perdue's trucks are running on X Ones and, he said, they can put 700 more pounds of feed in them.
That translates to greater capacity and fewer trips to the farms.
Jim Herman, fleet maintenance manager for Perdue, confirmed that sentiment. ``We've been working with the super singles tires for about three years and are very much pleased with them. In fact, that particular segment of our business is going to be 100-percent super-wide singles within probably a year.''
The company currently runs 130 tractor/trailers hauling feed to poultry farms; some 80 to 90 of those trucks are shod with super singles. Mr. Herman told Tire Business he is in the process of converting the rest of the feed fleet because of the weight savings it gets by using those tires. Perdue also is looking to expand their use into other portions of its trucking fleets, though he acknowledged that ``for over-the-road dressed poultry delivery and live bird pickups, weight is not as critical an issue.
``We've already seen fuel mile savings in our feed trucks, so we want to see if we can pass that along into other types of vehicles as well.''