The latest tire shipment forecast from the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) predicts about 53.3 million fewer tires will be shipped in 2020 than last year due to the economic downturn forced by COVID-19.
It’s a 16% loss, with 279.4 million tires expected to be shipped, down from 332.7 million in 2019.
The numbers do show a small improvement of 5.8 million tires from April, when USTMA provided a preliminary look at the effect of the pandemic on the industry.
The shutdown of automotive assembly lines has rocked original equipment orders, and the OE shipments in passenger, light truck and medium truck are all expected to drop by more than 20%. Medium truck OE shipments are predicted to fall by nearly one-third.
Overall OE units are projected to drop from 58.7 million to 43.9 million units - or 25.2%.
For tire dealers in the replacement channel, the picture is better - even though the numbers are still down across the board. Combined, passenger, light truck and medium truck replacement tire units are expected to drop from 274.0 million to 235.4 million units - or 14.1%.
Units are in millions, and figures are rounded.
