Goodyear’s Year Ahead in Poland

Goodyear is expecting Eastern European business to flourish this year, due to an increase of around 670,000 in Poland’s vehicle numbers, reports the Warsaw Business Journal.

Imports of second hand cars will fall to around 350,000, say company analysts, compared with the 820,000 used cars that flooded Poland after EU accession, and it is predicted that new sales will stabilise at roughly 320,000.

The manufacturer calculates that there will be 12.3 million cars on Polish roads by the end of 2005, an increase of 3.4 per cent. As such the replacement-driven market for car tyres in Poland will increase by 3.1 per cent compared with 2004.

Goodyear Group Polska’s sales director Jacek Pryczek said: “We estimate that 7.6 million new tyres will be bought this year to replace used tyres.”

The Central Statistical Office (GUS) and the Samar car-market research company, predict that the greatest growth will be in summer H-class tyres. And Goodyear predicts 12.1 per cent more tyres will be sold in this segment this year alone.