There's good news and bad news when it comes to the latest 2015 tire shipment projections from the Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA.) Here's some good news: Replacement passenger tire shipments are expected to exceed what the RMA predicted a year ago.
Here's some bad news: If the RMA's latest figures hold, about 1.8 million fewer replacement passenger tires will be shipped in 2015 than in 2014. That's a .9% decrease.
Modern Tire Dealer looked back at the RMA's predictions over the course of the past year. Here's how the numbers went up, and then down, over the course of the past year. All numbers are in millions and figures are rounded.
| 2014 final | Dec. 2014 | April 2015 | Aug. 2015 | Dec. 2015 | |
| Replacement passenger tires | 206.5 | 204.1 | 205.3 | 206.8 | 204.7 |
And here's a look at the RMA's latest projections for each segment. MTD already has noted how truck tire shipments are leading the way.
| 2014 final | 2015 forecast | % change | |
| OE passenger | 47.8 | 50 | 4.7 |
| OE light truck | 4.6 | 4.4 | -6.3 |
| OE truck | 5.7 | 6.2 | 9.1 |
| Replacement passenger | 206.5 | 204.7 | -0.9 |
| Replacement light truck | 28.7 | 28.9 | 0.7 |
| Replacement truck | 17.4 | 18 | 3 |
| Total shipments | 310.7 | 312.1 | 0.4 |
What do you see when you look at these figures? How do the numbers relate to your business in 2015? Leave us a comment.
