Sales of tyres for passenger cars/SUVs/vans have seen a year-on-year increase of 28% compared with 2015. The 40% increase in the segment of SUV tyres is especially visible, corresponding to the growth in sales of such cars on the primary and secondary markets.
Greater sales of motorcycles and scooters have also led to an increase in tyre sales by as much as 53% in this category. Other categories noted declines - truck tyres by 7%, agricultural by 17%, industrial by 19%.
When the first half of 2016 is compared to the corresponding period of 2015, the figures look slightly different. Tyres for passenger cars/SUVs/vans continue to show an increase, but at a lower level of 15 percent. This upturn is visible in all classes, but the biggest - 19 percent - was observed in the premium segment. In turn, for the mid-range segment it's 9% and for budget tyres 6%. Such a result indicates that Poles are beginning to appreciate the qualities of the best tyres and they see what difference they make when driving.
The sales of motorcycle and scooter tyres remains unchanged, while truck tyres are noting an increase of 2%. Agricultural tyres - a drop by as much as 24%, industrial tyres - by 10%. This is unfortunately an unfavourable continuation of trends in these segments associated with a lack of investment in machine parks, on the one hand, and of funds for modernising (agriculture) and infrastructure development (industrial machinery) on the other.
"The second quarter sees a significant increase in passenger and motorcycle tyres on the one side, with a decline in trucks and agricultural machinery on the other. However, just looking at the spring-summer season, which means all the six months of this year, shows that this period is much better in most segments when compared to 2015. ," comments Piotr Sarnecki, General Director of the Polish Tyre Industry Association. "It's a significant strengthening of an upturn. If the second half of the year will be at least like in 2015, we will again, after several years, go above 10 million units in the passenger car tyre segment," he adds.
Meanwhile, data collected by the ETRMA shows that tyre sales in Europe in the second quarter of 2016 turned out to be less dynamic than in the first. This is particularly true of June, when sales of tyres for passenger cars fell by 2%. Comparing the second quarter of 2016 to the same period in 2015, we see the following results: passenger car tyres - an increase of 1.5%, motorcycle and scooter tyres - an increase of 10%, truck tyres - an increase of 0.4%, agricultural tyres - a decrease of 7%.
The situation is slightly different from the perspective of the entire first half of the year. The increase amounts to 2% for passenger cars, 6.7% for motorcycle tyres and scooter, as well as 3.6% foe trucks. Only the agricultural tyres category showed a decrease of 7.8%.
"We are curious what sales the consecutive months will bring. Especially in the winter tyre segment, where sales fell significantly last year. Only then we will have a complete picture of the situation," Fazilet Cinaralp, Secretary-General of ETRMA, said.
Source: Polish Tyre Industry Association