That’s the finding of a new report by the National Tyre Distributors Association (NTDA) and LANXESS, a manufacturer of high-tech rubber for tyres.

EU tyre labelling legislation was introduced on 1st November 2012 to help consumers make more informed decisions when choosing tyres. The labelling, categorises tyres on three different criteria:  fuel efficiency (or “rolling resistance”), wet grip and external noise.

However, the NTDA’s survey shows that the introduction of the EU tyre labelling has been a missed opportunity for both drivers and tyre retailers with customers missing out on the benefits of safer and more fuel-efficient tyres and retailers missing out on the opportunity to sell higher cost premium tyres that still benefit their customers.

The survey was carried out across a cross-section of the NTDA’s members and found that 93% of tyre retailers responded that customers never or only occasionally require information on the EU label and only 30% know that tyres affect fuel consumption.

The NTDA says that this shows, that despite the EU tyre labelling legislation, there is still a lack of knowledge both about the label and about the potential benefits of choosing higher performance tyres.

Price was demonstrated as being the biggest selling point with 74% of survey respondents saying it was “the most important factor” to customers. Despite this sales of budget tyres have risen and sales of high-performance tyres have fallen in the last year, implying that consumers are still largely unaware of the potential cost benefits of choosing high-performance tyres.

The association added that not only are customers losing out from the fuel efficiency and safety advantages of these tyres, but there is also an impact on the environment and road safety.

Richard Edy, director of the NTDA, added: ‘Whilst it is still early days for the tyre labelling, and we can expect consumer knowledge to improve over time, the industry should work together to improve the uptake of high-performance tyres by providing as much information to the consumer as possible – whether within the dealership or externally.’

The NTDA results are a stark contrast to research released earlier this week by Goodyear Dunlop that says that over half of European commercial fleets are basing their tyre choices on the EU tyre label.