The changing market for light truck tires.

The changing market for light truck tires

The new generation of light truck owners have different needs of their light truck tires, but most will never even buy them.

Light truck replacement tires continue to be the fastest growing sales segment among tire manufacturers in the United States, and industry experts predict record sales for the light truck well into the 1990s.

The actual number of light truck tires sold, however, lags behind the increase in the sale of light trucks.

The Automotive Market Research Council projects sales of light trucks to continue from 4.8 million last year to nearly 5.5 million by 1994. That's about a 13-percent increase in five years.

Light truck tires, on the other hand, will only experience a rise in sales of anywhere from 4 to 6 percent, depending on the source used.

Why the discrepancy between sales of light trucks and light truck tires? And with the boom in sales of light trucks, will the nature of the light truck tire change? The answers lie in the flourishing popularity of two "in" vehicles -- the mini-van and the sports utility vehicle -- and the way consumers want their light truck tires to act.

The second car

In 1979, the …