Original equipment (OE) tire shipments took it on the chin last year. Passenger OE tire shipments dropped some 40% from previous-year levels, according to MTD's 2010 Facts Issue.
Meanwhile, light truck OE tire shipments fell 13.3% and medium truck tire shipments to new vehicle manufacturers plummeted a whopping 51.1%.
"From an OEM perspective, plant shutdowns (in 2009) led to a 35% year-to-year decrease in U.S. light vehicle production to 5.5 million vehicles," writes MTD Editor Bob Ulrich in the 2010 Facts Issue. "U.S. light vehicle sales were down 21% to 10.4 million vehicles. The goverment's Cash for Clunkers stimulus program accounted for 690,000 of those units."
For more information -- including exclusive, independently researched statistics -- see MTD's 2010 Facts Issue, available now!
