Pirelli confirms tyre market recovery in February

Administrator Wed Mar 23, 2011 10:01 pm

Pirelli confirms tyre market recovery in February
22 March 2011

Milan, Italy -- Pirelli has updated its website with tyre sales for the month of February and the first two months of 2011.

The company reports car and truck tyre sales still growing around the world. The company reports only percentage changes, not absolute numbers.

Pirelli said European truck tyre replacement sales increased by 23 percent in the first two months, but the February figure was up by 29 percent compared with a year ago. European OE figures showed an increase of a massive 81 percent in the year to date and 80 percent in February.

OE truck tyre sales in the NAFTA region increased by 55 percent in the year to date, helped by 53 percent growth in the most recent month. On the replacement side the increase is 23 percent in the first two months and 32 percent in February. The Mercosur region saw the OE sales up by 9 percent in the first two months and by just 2 percent in February. Replacement sales were up by 15 percent in the two months and 18 percent in February.

Replacement truck tyre sales data for China is not yet available, but OE sales increased by 12 percent in the year to date, despite no increase in the month of February. Replacement sales in Japan showed 51 percent growth over the first two months of 2011 and 79 percent in the month of February.

In the car and light truck segment, European OE sales were up by 13 percent for the first two months, and up by 9 percent in the month of February. Replacement sales were up by 13 percent in the year to date and up by 12 percent in February.

North American (NAFTA) sales of car and light truck tyres also grew. On the replacement side, sales in the two months were up by 8 percent, and up by just 2 percent in February. On the OE side, the first two months saw fgrowth of 15 percent, while February sales increased by 14 percent. In the Mercosur region, OE sales were up by 13 percent and up by 19 percent in the month of February. Replacement sales were weaker, down by 3 percent in the year so far despite an increase of 1 percent in the month of February.

Sales data from China were not yet available and will be updated in the coming days. Japanese sales of replacement tyres increased by12 percent in the first two months and by 8 percent in the month of February.