Goodyear PH eyes market share growth in NCR

Tire company Goodyear Philippines, Inc. aims to grow its market share in Metro Manila to 46-percent in five years, despite the dismal sales performance of the auto industry.

Kenneth Sambajon, company market director, said in a roundtable discussion on Thursday that the company intends to grow its market share by increments of one percent every year.

Citing data from market research firm GfK Philippines Corp., company officials said that GoodYear has a 41-percent market share as of August, dominating the National Capital Region (NCR).

Sambajon recalled that three to four years ago, the company — which has been in the country for close to a century now — had a 37 percent market share in the NCR.

“Hopefully, we increase it. What we want is to grow it based on how we’ve usually grown for the past three to four years. [We hope to reach] 45 percent maybe in the next four years, of 46 percent in the next five years,” he said.

He deferred from disclosing yearend sales targets, but the larger market share suggests that good years await the American tire company.

The larger market share is expected even though car companies fear vehicle sales in the country would drop this year to its worst since the financial crisis in 1998.

This is because cars usually replace tires after five years of use at most, according to the official. Therefore, the tire industry would only feel the impact of the auto industry’s 2018 performance later on.

But even if auto industry officials expect vehicle sales to drop as much as 15 percent at the end of this year, Sambajo remains optimistic about the years ahead for the tire industry.

He said consumers would have more incentive to take care of their cars — and, therefore, buy better tire replacements — instead of buying new vehicles with higher excise tax rates.

The Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act, which is the first tax package under the Duterte administration, raised the excise tax rates on most cars.

The tire industry has a huge market. Sambajon estimated that there are around 2.4 million cars registered under the Land Transportation Office.

For the past five years, the industry has been enjoying a compound annual growth rate of 12 percent.

In Goodyear’s case, the sports utility vehicles (SUVs) — such as the Ford Everest and the Toyota Fortuner — play an important role.

Sambajon said this segment has been a major driver for the company’s sales growth. He said SUVs account for around 30 percent of their market. /kga