Future Tire: Auto industry has “never had it so good”

Brussels – Automotive manufacturers and their suppliers “have never had it so good” as new-vehicle sales market continue to perform very well and keep growing, delegates to the Future Tire conference, 28-29 Oct were told.

In a surprisingly upbeat assessment, Tom De Vleesschauwer, director of long-term planning & sustainability at IHS, pointed to growth, or at least signs of growth, in the main global regions - including even in Europe.

“This year, growth is coming from China which is nothing new,” De Vleesschauwer on day 1 of the event in Brussels. “But, interestingly, this year the US market is starting to add additional growth and more encouragingly from our perspective here the European market is starting to contribute a little bit also.”

Indeed, he said, the traditional growth model had changed, with emerging markets like China having been downgraded a bit compared to a year ago in terms of their outlook and growth expectations.

Within the market overall, De Vleesschauwer said “we are on track for a very good year again in terms of new vehicle sales and we expect that growth to continue into next year.”