Global car tyre sales continue fragile recovery

ERJ staff report (DS)

Paris - Michelin has updated its website with tyre market data for the month of August. The August figures show further universal declines in demand, with two exceptions: the second consecutive monthly increase in replacement car tyre sales in North America and improved car and truck tyre sales in China. Truck tyre sales are still falling with little sign of recovery all around the world outside China.

In the OE truck tyre segment, every market in the world except China fell in the month of August and every market fell for the first eight months. Chinese sales jumped, continuing the sporadic recovery. Europe's sharp decline has continued. The site gives only percentage changes, not absolute numbers.

The year so far saw a dramatic 67.4 percent decrease in European sales with no sign of short term recovery. August's sales fell by 67.5 percent year on year. The dreadful decline in North American truck OE sales has continued, with sales in the first eight months down by 45.6 percent, nearly matched by a fall in August of 40.4 percent.

The Brazilian market's sharp slowdown continued in August. The year to date showed a fall of 31.2 percent, with the August figures down by 30.6 percent. Japan's situation is no better, with sales in the year to date running 60.3 percent below the same period in 2008. August's decline was almost as bad, at 42.4 percent lower than the same month a year ago. China saw strong OE sales in August, continuing the stop-start recovery pattern, with OE sales down by just 1.0 percent in the year to date, following a 28.3 percent increase in the month of August.

Truck replacement tyres in August showed a similar picture, though marginally less bad. European truck tyre markets fell by 27.6 percent in the first eight months, eased slightly by a 16.5 percent decline in August. North America fell by 16.5 percent in the year to August, not helped by a 17.3 percent decline in the year-on-year figure. In Brazil, a year-on-year fall of 16.5 percent slowed the eight-month figure fractionally to a decline of 21.2 percent. The sharp decline in Japanese replacement truck tyre sales accelerated in August, down by 36.3 percent in the year to date and by 56.7 percent in the month of August. China sales for the month grew by 25.2 percent in August, bringing the decline in the first eight months to 3.3 percent.

As has been recorded elsewhere, the OE car business continues to struggle, though the figures in August are an improvement on the July numbers. Michelin said the total European OE market for car tyres in the eight months to August 2008 was down by 31.6 percent, while the year-on-year figure for August dropped by 13.5 percent. The North American market continued its downtrend, with the equivalent figures showing a decline of 45.1 percent for the eight-month period and a year-on-year decrease in August of 23.4 percent.

China, however recovered sharply. OE demand in China was up by 26.2 percent in the year to date and up by 7.8 percent in August

In the replacement business, the decline in Europe continued but at a much slower pace. In August the eight-month figures showed a fall of 10.0 percent while the one-month figure fell by just 1.1 percent. In North America, the replacement market fell by 7.0 percent in the first eight months, eased somewhat by the second consecutive month of growth - a small increase of 2.6 percent in the most recent month. Chinese replacement sales continued to grow, showing growth of 14.6 percent in the year to date and 14.0 percent in the most recent month.

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Press release from Michelin