European two-wheel tyre sales down 3% in second quarter

Following on from the publication of European tyre sales figures relating to car, truck and agricultural products sold in the first half of 2015, European tyre association ETRMA has also release two-wheel tyre demand data. In short, the performance of the two-wheel sector appears to be somewhere between the relative success of car and truck tyres, but not as bad as the declining agricultural tyre figures of the first report.

While second quarter results were down 3 per cent, the year-to-date figure (the first half 2015 total) remained in the black, 2 per cent up on the same period in 2014. Owing to the fact that the data refers to tyres sold by ETRMA members, it is likely that the decline in sales is due to increased competition from non-ETRMA members as in the agricultural tyre sector. However unlike that sector, two-wheel tyres are influenced by both the economic confidence of consumers and the weather. With the first half representing the end of winter and the beginning of spring, the third quarter results are more likely to give an indication of overall demand for the year as this period include the weather that attracts fair-weather motorcyclists.

Source: ETRMA Europool