All-season tire sales increased by 42%!
Starting in 2022, all-season tires suddenly became popular! The trend of all-season tires selling better has spread from Europe to North America. In the eyes of European and American consumers, all-season tires seem to be more economical, and the convenience of not having to change frequently is also a major advantage.
01 All-season tires in the United States are hot selling
From November 2024 to February 2025, many areas in the United States were not troubled by blizzards, which made local tire consumers in the United States begin to prefer the all-season tire market.
There was a thin layer of snow, and the icing was not serious, which was enough for all-season tires to cope with.
In fact, in the United States, winter tire sales only account for a small share of the replacement market.
Because there is rarely extreme cold weather in the southern United States, winter tires are more used in the northern United States. However, even so, the winter tire market in the north is also being swallowed up by all-season tire products.
In Buffalo, New York, tire seller Express staff said that their nearly 4,000 distribution points in western Pennsylvania and New York have not seen a significant increase in demand for winter tires in the past three months.
From November 2024 to January 2025, extreme cold weather occurred near Lake Erie and Lake Ontario in the United States. Among them, Syracuse, New York, is the largest city in the United States with the most snowfall, with an average annual snowfall of 11 feet. In the west, Rochester and Buffalo have an average annual snowfall of 9 feet. But such blizzards did not promote sales of winter tires.
Paul Pittner, vice president of Exxpress, said that sales of winter tires for passenger cars and small CUVs with 17-inch rims were half of those in 2019. At the same time, the vice president also mentioned that sales of winter tires have been weak in their company. He pointed out that for many car owners, the cost of using winter tires is very high. First, the price is expensive; second, winter tires must be removed and replaced in the spring, and their storage costs are not low. In addition, many car owners have not traveled in bad weather in recent years, resulting in low winter tire usage.
Therefore, although winter tire sales were not very good in 2019, winter tire sales have been getting worse since 2019. According to the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA), in 2023, U.S. winter tire shipments were slightly more than 3 million, accounting for only the replacement market share.
Of course, this data has declined more than in 2022-in 2022, winter tire sales were 3.9 million. Winter tire sales are getting worse year by year. However, in contrast to winter tire sales, sales of all-season tires suitable for all seasons have been on the rise.
Tire seller Express has experienced the explosive growth of all-season tires. According to USTMA data, in 2023, dealers sold 10 million all-season tires in the United States, an increase of 19% from 2022.
Paul Pittner, vice president of Exxpress, told the media that although there are no exact numbers at present, in their sales list, from the first week of October to early February, winter tires and all-season tires each accounted for 50% of sales, while four years ago all-season tires accounted for about 8% of sales.
02 Winter tires vs. all-season tires
Winter tires, as the name suggests, are tires designed by tire companies specifically for winter, rainy and snowy weather travel-the tread pattern is designed to grip on snow, ice or muddy roads, and is marked with the three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMS) symbol (which means they meet the traction standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials). Industry experts say that whether studded or not, winter tires are designed to remain soft and maintain grip when temperatures drop below 45 degrees Fahrenheit. This also explains why car owners must replace winter tires with summer or all-season tires when the weather warms up.
Although all-season tires also carry the 3PMS logo, unlike winter tires, they can be used all year round.
03 Weather changes trigger a boom in all-season tire sales
VIP Tires & Service, a chain of tire stores with more than 70 stores in the northern United States, has also felt the boom in all-season tire sales in recent years. In Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, where it operates tire business, studded tire sales are still good, but in Connecticut and Massachusetts, more and more drivers are choosing all-season tires for the simple reason that extreme weather in winter is not common in these states. However, this seller has a different view on the development of all-season tires from the other sales mentioned above. The person in charge here believes that all-season tire sales have not affected the winter tire market.
"We open stores in different regions, and I think winter tires are still the best choice for winter driving." "For example, in New England, where some of my stores are located, it didn't snow until January and February this year. Drivers' tire needs are different from those in other states." He believes that it is important to layout product portfolios by region. Western New York occasionally encounters severe storms in October and November, but most of the snowfall occurs in January and February, a few weeks after winter tire sales fell in mid-December.
04 Consumption downgrade promotes all-season tire sales
However, the two tire sellers "coincide" on the view that consumption downgrade affects winter tire sales. Tires are "a kind of stingy purchase. Few people will excitedly say in the morning, 'Oh my God, I'm going to buy new tires today.'
You will only change tires reluctantly when you really feel the tires slipping." The emergence of warm winters makes the "reluctance" of car owners extremely difficult.
In addition, the two tire sellers also said that the cheaper winter tires are easier to sell under consumption downgrade. "People don't want to spend a lot of money on winter tire replacement. Look at the price of these tires now. For some cheaper vehicles, the price of winter tires of well-known brands is astronomical. So even if they replace winter tires, car owners will choose the cheapest brand.
And now, with the improvement of the manufacturing process level of tire companies, high-quality-to-price ratio tires are performing very well. This is the direction of sales trend, and I don't think this trend will stop." Almost all tire stores will increase the share of high-quality-to-machine ratio tires.
