Michelin releases tyre data for February

ERJ staff report (DS)

Paris - Michelin has updated its website with tyre market data for the month of February. The new data shows that February was a mixed month for tyre sales generally.

Michelin said the total European OE market for car tyres in the two months to February 2007 was up by 3.6 percent, although the year-on-year increase for February was just  0.9 percent. The site gives only percentage changes, not absolute numbers. For North America, the equivalent figures were a decline of 3.6 percent for the two-month period and a year-on-year decrease in February of 5.2 percent.

In the replacement business, Europe recovered somewhat, with the two-month figures showing an increase of 3.9 percent and the one-month figures up by 2.6 percent. In North America, the replacement market increased by 2.2 percent in the first two months, despite a 1.6 percent decline in the month of February.

In Truck OE sales, Europe continued to show rapid growth with a 14.3 percent increase in the first two months, while the February figure was up 20.4 percent on the previous year. The appalling decline in North American truck OE sales is at last showing the first sign of slowing down, with sales in the first two months down by 29.7 percent, alleviated slightly by a 25.5 percent decline in February alone. In Brazil, however, the first two months showed a healthy 24.1 percent gain, although the rate of increase may be slowing, with the figure for February up by just 14.6 percent.

Truck replacement tyres showed a sdifferent tendency. European truck tyre markets were down by 10.3 percent in the first two months, reflecting an 11.7 percent decline in February. North America showed a marginal increase of just 0.1 percent in the year to February where the gain in January was cancelled out by a 2.0 percent decline in February. The Brazil market however, grew by 19.7 percent in the first two months with the February figure up by 8.3 percent. Japanese replacement truck tyre sales fell by 7.0 percent in the year to date, despite a massive 43 percent increase in the month of February.

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Press release from Michelin