The president of Atturo Tire, Michael Mathis, participated in the Modern Tire Dealer mid-year Q&A session with Mike Manges. Below is that article followed by some contemporary notes.
MTD: Can you bring us up to speed on Atturo’s performance this year? What have been some of the company’s challenges and achievements?
Mathis: The first quarter of 2026 wrapped up on a very positive note for us. (Editor's note: this interview was conducted in May.) We exceeded our budget forecast every month. April saw the same. We’re looking at 2026 as a rebuilding year after the disruptions we had in 2025 with the tariffs. That continues to impact the market, but it's stabilized to some degree and the market, at least for us, is showing some signs of rejuvenation and improvement. We’re seeing some good momentum. We've continued onward with the growth of the brand. 2025 saw us bring into market close to 90 new SKUs, so those are now fully available now. So we're continuing with our product development ... continuing (to expand) our range to cover the broader segment of the replacement market.
MTD: Atturo continues to invest heavily in sports marketing. What are some of the benefits you’re seeing from this aspect of your marketing plan?
Mathis: Sports marketing, in particular, is one where we place the Atturo brand name alongside major household brand names that consumers see. When you see Atturo flash by, followed by Coca Cola and preceded by Chase (Bank), that’s kind of an elevation of the brand in positioning in the subconsciousness of the consumer. That’s kind of the halo effect, along with the huge number of eyeballs that see those. I always say for a little private brand, we try to punch above our weight. As you have consumers making that trade-down and they're trying to select a tire that’s not as expensive as their OE (tire), seeing a brand they've heard of or have been exposed to in some way and then discovering its value proposition ... that’s really been a winning combination for us.
MTD: Last year at the SEMA Show, Atturo unveiled the Artis, a tire targets the luxury high performance segment. How has that product been received and what other niche categories is Atturo exploring?
Mathis: As far as other areas that we’re moving into, we continue to focus a lot of our product development in applications that are kind of around those different hybrid and EV type vehicles. There’s still certainly growth in that area, both for OE replacement-type sizes and aftermarket sizes, and not just in aftermarket sizes, but in alternate tread designs. You’re seeing more vehicles like Rivian and some of the electric vehicles from Ford and GM that are in the SUV or light truck category. Those are spots that we continue to develop, as well as in the all-weather category. We’ve had a number of products with 3-Peak Mountain Snowflake certification on them for years and it’s a feature of a lot of the different tires we offer. Even if it’s not necessarily targeted to a market that demands that, it's just an added performance feature that we try to build into a lot of our products.
MTD: What investments have you made in manufacturing and supply chain within the last year of so? Can you tell us about them and how they are benefiting your distributors and dealers?
Mathis: From a manufacturing standpoint, we’ve continued to expand our product range. We’ve made significant investments in new mold equipment ... and along with that, R&D spend, certification upkeep and performance testing. And then, of course, on the supply chain side, we’ve initiated a number of different technological pieces that we’ve added to be able to improve our container tracking, freight tracking and freight monitoring – not just the location of the tire, but on-time delivery performance and then being able to turn that back around into being able to improve performance from those freight carriers, in both cost and shipping time.
MTD: How would you describe the state of the of replacement PLT tire market? What are you hearing and seeing?
Mathis: We’re seeing that it's kind of stagnating. It’s not growing. It’s not necessarily declining. But we’re seeing a cautious consumer that continues to kind of trade down. I think you're seeing tier-one and tier-two brands suffering and that volume is falling into tier-three, where we’re positioned. Our heightened brand awareness is making consumers more comfortable in selecting an alternative to a major brand product or at least getting a brand that they have a little bit of familiarity with. They’re trading down to a more affordable product.
MTD: What can we expect to see from Atturo during the second half of the year and into 2027?
Mathis: We continue to build out our product range. We have a couple of new tires that are wrapping up development and getting into production, so those will be announced during the second half of the year. We continue to expand the sizes of our current product range – addressing more of those OE replacement, as well as aftermarket sizes, which will include more new sizes coming in the Artis. And then we’re going to continue to build on the momentum we’ve had from these marketing efforts. We’re going to stay the course on that and continue to build that out, delivering more tools for our dealers to engage and drive sales directly to our associate dealers... and trying to do a more thorough job at translating those campaigns directly into traffic for our dealers.
The interview was conducted in May, and a few things have come into sharper focus since then that are worth adding context on:
Cost pressure has intensified. Oil price volatility and freight costs continue to push margins tighter across the supply chain. Consumers are already trading down — as I noted in the piece — but dealers are feeling it on their end too. Suppliers with stable pricing and strong logistics infrastructure matter more now than they did a year ago.
The independent dealer opportunity is real and growing. Private equity consolidation is reshaping the retail tire landscape. That's actually an opening for independent dealers who differentiate through service depth and a product mix that speaks to enthusiasts and truck/SUV owners — categories where loyalty and margin hold up better.
Light truck demand remains a bright spot. The PLT segment, particularly truck and SUV applications, continues to show resilience. It's where we're focused, and the market is rewarding that focus.
Brand momentum is building. Our partnerships with the PFL and Mecum Auctions are putting Atturo in front of exactly the audiences — truck owners, off-road enthusiasts, performance car buyers — who are most likely to seek us out at the dealer level.
ES