WASHINGTON-May tire shipments to the U.S. replacement market generally continued the growth begun in April, rebounding after a sluggish first quarter, according to data from the Rubber Manufactur-ers Association. Aftermarket shipments of passenger, light truck and large off-the-road/heavy truck tires increased significantly in May, compared with the 1995 month, while those of medium and wide-base truck and industrial/utility tires dropped.
Shipments of replacement passenger tires advanced 5.8 percent to 14.4 million units, while light truck tires climbed 9.6 percent to 2.17 million units and heavy truck/large OTR tires, 9.4 percent to 36,000 units.
At the same time, aftermarket shipments of medium truck tires slipped 1.9 percent to 1.01 million units, while those of industrial/utility tires plunged 32.5 percent to 265,000 units.
The Canadian aftermarket followed a similar pattern, according to figures from the Rubber Association of Canada. Replacement passenger tire shipments shot up 11.2 percent in May to 929,585 units, whiles shipments of replacement truck/bus tires sagged 0.6 percent to 246,736 units.