First Green Shoots of Recovery in US EM Market

The US earthmover/off-the-road tyre market recently plateaued and is now even registering the first ‘green shoots’ of low level market increases, according to Luc Minguet, Michelin president earthmover and industrial tyres worldwide. According to Minguet, 2009 got off to a particularly rough start for the OTR business with OE demand plummeting 20 per cent in the first two months of the year and replacement sales down by up to 60 per cent in same period.

Positive signs follow 70% crash in European OTR OE demand at the start of 2009

According to the data Tyres & Accessories has seen, sell in off-road sales closed the first quarter at 50 per cent below what was achieved in 2008.

Minguet was speaking at the launch of Michelin’s new XDA2 loader tyre at the Intermat 2009 show in Paris, where the company highlighted its 50th anniversary of radial earthmover tyre production, the launch of the XHA2 and the use of tonne\kilometre billings. He also spoke of his hopes that the second half of the year will perform better than the first and gave the first rough details pertaining to the tyre manufacturers proposed Indian EM tyre manufacturing plant.