Cooper Tire executives said the company is gaining business from large fleet customers in North America with its new PRO Series tires.
The latest offering, the LHT longhaul tire, was on display at the North America Commercial Vehicle (NACV) Show in Atlanta last week, alongside the PRO Series LHS (steer) and LHD (drive) tires. These make up the Cooper Commercial Series, launched in 2018 and now able to provide fleets a complete lineup of longhaul tires.
“This completes Phase 1 of our Cooper Commercial Series, as we now have fitments for all positions,” said Gary Schroeder, executive director of global truck and bus tire business. “We are gaining momentum with our Cooper signature brand.”
The PRO Series LHT tire is "Energy ECO" verified, meaning that it performs at least 15% above levels set as part of the SmartWay program from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Schroeder and Jason Miller, national fleet channel sales manager, told Fleet Owner that Cooper is boosting efforts to win business from larger fleet in the United States and Canada. The company has been in business for more than a century and is known for the Roadmaster brand, popular with smaller fleets and independent truckers.
While smaller fleets tend to look exclusively at price, large fleets seek tires able to deliver on tread wear, fuel economy and retreadability, the Cooper executives said.
Advances in “big data” have made it possible for big fleets to more easily evaluate various tire options. That includes performance along different routes, with different vehicle configurations and with individual drivers. Schroeder added that Cooper has a calculator tool that can help fleets considering switching a clearer undertanding on how much they could save.
“No one has the luxury today… of saying 'I buy that because I like that brand.' They are buying it because that brand saves me money," said Schroeder.
A "wear square" on LHT tire shows tread depth through five different patterns. A square shows full tread depth, while an L shape shows that half of the tread remains. The wear square also will show when the tire should be pulled for retreading. There is a square on both sides of the tire so irregular wear can be more quickly uncovered.
The PRO Series tires come with a seven-year, two-cap warranty with full replacement value for 50% of the tread should there be a failure.
Since 2015, Cooper has offered a national account fleet service program, providing uniform pricing and service across the country. The program "streamlines the tire buying process for our fleet customers, while also giving them peace of mind with our national emergency road service,” Schroeder said.
