Replacement and original equipment passenger tire shipments in the United States were down 5.2% in August compared to the same month last year, according to the Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA). That's the eighth consecutive month that total passenger tire shipments were down year-to-year.
Through the first eight months, total passenger tire shipments were down 5.5%.
Here is the comparative P-metric tire shipment breakdown by segment for August 2006:
Replacement: down 3.3%, from 18.3 million to 17.7 million units.
OE: down 12.3%, from 5 million to 4.4 million units.
Compared to the first eight months of 2004, this year's replacement and OE passenger tire shipments are down 4.2%. Shipments are down less than 1% when comparing August 2006 with August 2004.
Overall tire shipments (passenger, light truck and medium/heavy truck) were down 5.2% in August versus the same period last year. Replacement shipments were down 4.5% to 161.2 million units, while OE shipments were down 7.6% to 40.8 million units.
