ETMRA
New car registration figures for April 2020 reflect COVID-19’s impact upon the automotive industry here in the UK, and our neighbours across the Channel are facing similar problems. Four automotive industry associations have now stepped forward with a plan to ensure a strong restart of the sector and the economy at large.
Things are changing so quickly at the moment that most analyses end up little more than speculation two weeks later. That’s why Tyrepress contains both the latest news and seeks to set such developments into their medium- and long-term contexts. Take our Tyre Retail coverage for example (see “2020 UK tyre retail ranking” and “Which garages are open during lockdown“) where we list both the current proportions of open tyre retailers and analyse the overall UK tyre retail landscape in its seven-year context.
Fresh figures from the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) show the extent to which COVID-19 control measures have impacted upon Europe’s tyre markets. The year-on-year slowdown in tyre replacements and sales in the first quarter of 2020 has been “dramatic”, the ETRMA reports.
The European Tyre Manufacturers’ Association has called the response to the COVID-19 pandemic “one of the biggest challenges our industry has ever faced.” It calls for “constructive dialogue between industry, EU institutions and governments” to support the workforce of around 370,000 people while an “unprecedented” level of temporary closures and shutdowns are in place, and to smooth the transition to restart activities in the sector. Secretary-general Fazilet Cinaralp also said that the tyre sector is “vital… for the European economy at large,” adding that all stakeholders would need to find ways of supporting the sector “to avoid a permanent loss of capacity, research capability and innovation.”
Emissions Analytics caused a stir last week when sharing news of its tyre wear pollution testing. It reported extraordinarily high levels of tyre wear pollution. The European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) has now responded with a statement that challenges Emissions Analytics’ testing procedure while keeping the door open to further dialogue on the subject of tyre and road wear particles (TRWP).
Figures recently published by the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers Association (ETRMA) show that its members produced almost 242 million tyres in all segments of the replacement market in 2019, two to three per cent fewer than the 248 million tyres produced a year earlier.
Sales of tyres produced by European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) members decreased year-on-year in almost every product category during 2019. The ETRMA describes the market last year as “weak”, and this is particularly the case for the original equipment segments.
In mid-November, the Green Party in the EU Parliament put out a statement on twitter saying: “tyres release more than 500,000 tonnes of microplastics into the environment?”. Stating that this means it is “time to reinvent the wheel”, the green party added: “Yesterday [13 November] we fought hard and we managed to convince the EU to label tyre abrasion in order to tackle plastic pollution”. With this in mind, Tyres & Accessories asked ETRMA what the pan-European tyre industry is adding to the discussion.
92 per cent of end of life tyres (ELTs) were collected and treated for material recycling and energy recovery in 2017, according to data covering 32 European countries, consolidated by the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA). This figure shows continuity with previous years’ data, which fluctuates between 93 and 95 per cent. The remaining 8 per cent could not be tracked, ETRMA states. The figure includes data from the 28 countries in the European Union, plus Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, and Turkey.
Although the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association has reported that its members’ sales declined in all segments during the third quarter of this year, it interprets the figures as indicating “a general stabilisation of the market.”
In July 2018 the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) initiated a multi-stakeholder roundtable, the European TRWP (Tyre and Road Wear Particles) Platform facilitated by CSR Europe to consult on the subject of tyre particulate. The Platform brought together representatives of the main organisations related to TRWP well as research institutes and EU policy makers. As the year-long collaboration has come to a conclusion, the platform has published two reports highlighting potential mitigation measures to reduce generation and transportation of TRWP as well as calling for additional research where knowledge gaps exist in an attempt to answer growing concerns about their environmental impact.
When ETRMA called for open access to vehicle data for tyre manufacturers, the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturer’s Association had current and nascent Tyres as a Service (TaaS) technology in mind.
The European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association has reported its member’s European replacement market sales volumes for the first half of 2019, and the figures show mixed results compared with those from last year.
The European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) has outlined the importance of access to in-vehicle data and communication with drivers. “Connected & Automated Mobility”, a report prepared in collaboration with Quantalyse, draws attention to recent proposals for closed data concepts, such as the Extended Vehicle, which give vehicle manufacturers exclusive control of in-vehicle data, thereby hindering innovation by third parties.
The European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) has published members sales figures, which show that “overall industry sales declined slightly in the first quarter of 2019”.
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