West Europe pcr capacity down 38M units in last 5 years
Just a day after Bridgestone announced it will close its passenger car tyre factory in Bari, Italy, DB Equity Research Automotive analyst Gaetan Toulemonde comments that the tyre industry has reduced its passenger car tyre capacity in Western Europe by 38 million units. Toulemonde puts the current Western European passenger tyre market at 275 million units; 65 million are supplied to OEM customers, the remaining 210 million are sold on the replacement market. This number, Toulemonde adds, has remained stable over the last five years – the decrease in local production being compensated by higher imports such as those from China, which have doubled over the last five years to 50 million units a year.
According to the Deutsche Bank analyst, the average cost of producing a tyre in Western Europe is 8 euros – a high figure in comparison with other regions. This year, both Goodyear and Bridgestone have announced the reduction of some 13 million units (in total) capacity in Western Europe, while in 2009 Michelin, Continental and Pirelli reduced capacity in the region by a total of 25 million units. Much of this lost capacity has been shifted eastwards to countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Serbia.
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