European PCR, OE truck markets down in March

In its latest market trends update, Michelin reports that European on-road tyre markets were mostly down in March. Original equipment and replacement market passenger car tyre sales in Europe (including the Turkish and growing Russian markets) were respectively down 15 and 11 per cent year-on-year during March 2013. The year to date decline is 11 per cent for original equipment and nine per cent for the replacement market.

Original equipment heavy truck radial sales in Europe (Turkey and Russia included) decreased four per cent year-on-year in March, while replacement sales were up three per cent. Year to date, original equipment heavy truck radial sales are down three per cent while the replacement market has increased five per cent year-on-year.  

North American passenger car tyre markets were also lower year-on-year, with original equipment and replacement falling five and seven per cent respectively. Year to date, the region’s original equipment market is still one per cent above where it stood a year earlier, and the replacement market is down two per cent. Original equipment heavy truck radials continued their year-on-year plummet in March, down 13 per cent compared with March 2012. Replacement was one per cent lower. The original equipment heavy radial market is thus 12 per cent lower and replacement one per cent lower year-on-year.

Michelin’s latest update only covers China’s passenger car and light truck tyre market, and the news there is positive. The original equipment and replacement markets grew by 13 per cent and 17 per cent year-on-year in March, and year to date they are up 15 per cent and 11 per cent. 

Brazil, the fourth market covered by Michelin, displayed modest consumer segment growth in March 2013. Original equipment passenger car and light truck tyre sales rose two per cent over the 2012 result, while the replacement market grew three per cent. Both have grown by seven per cent year to date. A two per cent drop in the country’s original equipment heavy truck radial market was countered by two per cent growth in the aftermarket. The drop in original equipment sales is a market departure from the segment’s performance at the start of the year; for the first three months of 2013 as a whole, the original equipment market is up 23 per cent, while the replacement market increased four per cent year to date.