Consumer tire shipments fell 1.9% in the quarter to 60.4 million units, pushing down the January-September total 14.4% to 143.5 million units, the ETRMA figures show.
By contrast, shipments of truck/bus tires rose 2.9% in the quarter to 3.6 million units, helping to cut the nine-month shipment deficit to 8%, or 8.7 million units.
Likewise, shipments of agricultural tires jumped 11.6% in the quarter to 293,000 units, reducing the year-to-date deficit versus 2019 to 3%, 899,000 units.
Demand for motorcycle, scooter, etc. tires jumped 26.7% in the quarter to 2.36 million units, but shipments for the nine-month period were 11.7% behind 2019 at 7.12 million units.
"As the numbers show, the crisis is hitting our industry quite heavily and the situation is not improving," ETRMA Secretary General Fazilet Cinaralp said, noting that the consumer sector is the more affected with the 14.4% replacement market decline, coupled with a 30.4% drop in original equipment demand.
"While we hope that the pandemic situation will improve, we also underline the urgent need to find the most suitable measures to support the tyre industry in order to preserve jobs in the sector.
"Outlook for the end of the year remains gloomy and with a double-digit drop in sales expected across all segments."
ETRMA figures show European demand bottomed out in May, when all of the tire categories it tracks were down double-digit versus the 2019 period. Since then the year-to-date shipment figures have improved but continue to lag behind the 2019 totals.
The ETRMA has 14 tire-manufacturing companies among its members, companies whose corporate sales represent 70% of total global sales. The ETRMA's data refer to markets in 35 European countries, stretching from Ireland in the West to Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and the Baltics in the East plus Malta and Turkey.