As you know, the international supply crisis has deeply affected us, and we are now feeling it in all our daily lives. Rising prices, delivery delays, limited quantities are the present realities.
In our field, the wheel one (directly linked to the tires), the challenge is huge. In addition to raising primary materials and manufacturing costs, shipping prices have killed the cost of wheels whether steel or aluminum. Also, the difficulty of finding containers, and space on the boats means that there are significant delivery delays in our field*. Already, some importers/distributors are indicating significant lack of times for popular wheel models and even some are indicating that they won't have deliveries for months.
On our side, we were lucky to have received the majority of our orders, but since there are gaps in the distribution, we are more in demand than expected. So, we sadly forecast an inventory shortage. Despite the fact that the costs are higher, there will be a real undersupply. At DTD, we have chosen to pay more in order to bring in the product and meet the needs of our partner customers. Yes, we had to sell more expensively, but we had stock to serve you. Other companies have chosen to cancel part of their orders and say “no” to their customers. Who are-we to judge? DTD has just chosen the option of saying 'We have it,' at least for longer.
As much as in the tires field, we will experience intense moments over the next few months. I encourage users to plan ahead and installation workshops to prepare for a still unpredictable season. The pressure is wide adding to the lack of human resources we live.
Everything leads to believe that we have several more months to come with instability on the product stocks side. There is a big chance that we will still experience supply problems for the full year 2022. It is very difficult to predict what will happen over the next few months, and even the next few years. We only have a certitude, DTD chose to satisfy their partners/customers to support them in this reality that we are facing together.
TOGETHER, we will eradicate the crisis and emerge stronger. TOGETHER!!
*refer to our blog: The consumer will end up paying the price!
