Hans-JÜrgen Drechsler, head of Germany’s tyre dealer and retreader association, the Bundesverband Reifenhandel und Vulkaniseur-Handwerk (BRV), has commented on this year’s lower sales in an interview with the Handelsblatt business newspaper.

According to Drechsler, the BRV had estimated sales growth exceeding 5% for the industry this year, but recorded figures show a decline from 2006 levels. At the end of October retail tyre sales in Germany were 6% lower than in the same period last year. “We will only manage to catch up if it becomes extremely cold in the coming days,” he commented.

Tyre manufacturers have confirmed this negative trend, reports the Handelsblatt. “They (winter tyre sales) are not performing as in previous years,” said Fritz Katzensteiner, head of the German Rubber Manufacturers’ Association. A spokesperson from Michelin also commented that the French manufacturer had noticed a weakening in German market sales since 2006. In the previous year manufacturers sold 24.7 million winter tyres, a record year, with sales up by half a million units.