This was revealed at a special briefing meeting organised today by Continental Tyres Ireland, which also noted other reasons including owners keeping cars longer, and driving less.
Owners in an ageing car park are more reluctant to replace tyres with higher-end products, and fuel costs are causing people to drive less.
A little over 1.2m new tyres were sold in Ireland in 2011 by European-based tyre manufacturers, and up to 1m more by mainly Asian makers.
At the meeting, the company also officially introduced to Ireland its latest premium tyre, the ContiPremiumContact5, aimed at family and premium cars.
There was also a discussion on the new EU-wide tyre labelling system which becomes law in November.
Paddy Murphy of Continental Tyres Ireland said that enforcement of tyres regulations in Ireland in the past has left ’much to be desired’. ”I hope that this will not be repeated with the labelling regulations,” he said pointedly.
He added that from the consumer viewpoint, the implementation of the labelling system 'should help to eliminate sub-standard tyres' on the Irish market.
