Richard Lilley started his automotive career in truck and car leasing in 1975. He continued with retail automotive sales selling Porsche+Audi products, Volkswagen, Mazda, Toyota, Volvo and Lotus cars. In 1988, he had the opportunity to move into market research and data collection working for JATO Dynamics, a UK company. He subsequently worked for other companies in research sales and database development before starting Lilley Associates, Inc. (LAI) in May of 1996.

An early project was to update an aluminum wheel database for ELM International in East Lansing, Michigan (subsequently merged into another company). ELM offered to have LAI take over the research and data collection and they would market the study on their company website. ELM provided automotive supplier profiles (in printed form) for North America, Europe and China.

The initial study in 1997 was well received in the market. In 1999, the study was updated with the inclusion of steel wheels because of customer demand. The study has been published on the odd year ever since.

In 2013, spare wheel data was added to the detail of the main database. With the advent and increasing market share of tire inflation kits and run-flat tires, the spare wheel market has become a concern for steel wheel makers. Aluminum wheel suppliers are also taking notice as vehicle manufacturers are inquiring about aluminum spares with vehicle light-weighting goals.

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The Study
  • The Lilley Report is THE comprehensive source of information regarding aluminum and steel wheel usage in the North American market.  Data is provided in a format that allows the user to readily sort or filter based on specific criteria.  The author’s exhaustive efforts to consolidate and verify information from an array of industry resources, as well as insightful commentary regarding industry trends, result in a valuable tool for our organization to solidify our understanding of the market landscape and help guide strategic planning efforts.

    Industry Executive

  • Our company has purchased Dick Lilley’s North America Wheel Study going back to 2001. With this track record, it is clear that we find the study very useful. We use it to track trends over time in the North America wheel market, and the study is a beneficial tool in our planning process. Dick has also made himself available to share his wheel market analysis with key people in our Company. These presentations and discussions are insightful and always generate positive feedback from our employees.

    Vice President at a North American wheel supplier