The total U.S. tire shipments are slightly up for 2016, according to the most recent forecast by the Rubber Manufacturers Association.
Tire shipments are expected to reach 314.4 million, based on projections from tire shipment data between January and October 2016. This is a very small increase of 0.3% over 2015, RMA shared.
On the replacement side, light truck and truck tire shipments are both up in 2016, while passenger tire shipments are down. Light truck replacement shipments are expected to reach 31.5 million, a 7.9% increase over 2015, and replacement truck sales are up 2.5% to 18.4 million shipments. Replacement passenger tire shipments are down 0.5% to 205.2 million.
On the original equipment side light truck shipments are up 9.5%, with OE shipments reaching 4.8 million. However, both OE passenger and truck tire shipments are down year over year. OE passenger tire shipments are projected to reach 49.6 million a 0.3% loss. While OE truck tire shipments are down 17.6% to 5.1 million tires.
