Total U.S. tire shipments are expected to hit 336 million units in 2021 and the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) projects every category of replacement tires will exceed the units shipped in 2019.
Original equipment tire units are expected to be 1.7 million million higher than those shipped in 2020, but still off the mark of 2019 pre-pandemic levels. This latest projection for OE tires is down from the 52.5 million units USTMA expected as part of its August tally.
In replacement tires, total shipments are expected to be 31.1 million units more than last year, and 13.0 million units above 2019 totals.
| 2021 Forecast | 2020 | 2019 | |
| Original equipment | |||
| Passenger | 37.6 | 37.2 | 46.3 |
| Light truck | 5.6 | 5.4 | 5.9 |
| Truck | 5.8 | 4.7 | 6.5 |
| OE total | 49.0 | 47.3 | 58.7 |
| Replacement | |||
| Passenger | 226.0 | 203.8 | 222.6 |
| Light truck | 38.4 | 32.9 | 32.5 |
| Truck | 22.6 | 19.2 | 18.9 |
| Replacement total | 287.0 | 255.9 | 274.0 |
| Total shipments | 336.0 | 303.2 | 332.7 |
*All shipments are in millions. Figures are rounded.
Detailed 2020 data can be found in the USTMA’s annual Factbook, which can be purchased at www.ustires.org.
