According to the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA), 2025 will be a record year for U.S. tire shipments, driven by double-digit growth in commercial tire demand.
It is expected that the shipment volume of passenger car, light truck and truck and bus tires will reach 337.3 million this year, an increase of 3.1 million units, or 0.9%, from 2024.
USTMA predicts that the replacement market for truck and bus tires and light truck tires will grow by 24.6% and 16% to 23.6 million and 37.1 million units respectively.
In contrast, replacement passenger tire shipments will grow only slightly in 2024 - by 700,000 units or 0.8% to a total of 223.3 million units.
In the original equipment market, shipments of light truck tires are expected to increase by 16% from 2024 to 6.8 million units.
Compared with 2024, original equipment shipments of passenger car tires and truck and bus tires are expected to increase by 1.6% and 2.7% to 43.8 million and 5.8 million units respectively.
If the forecast holds true, it would be the second consecutive year of record shipments in the U.S.
While the shipment of light truck tires and truck and bus tires is optimistic, the manufacturing capacity of such products in the United States is declining. According to USTMA data, the production of such tires in the United States fell 4% to 11.9 million last year.
Companies reducing capacity include Sumitomo Rubber, which closed its tire plant in Tonawanda, New York, in November last year; Bridgestone, which plans to close a plant in Tennessee, and Goodyear, which plans to phase out capacity at its truck and bus tire plant in Virginia.
The three plants have a daily production capacity of up to 15,000 truck and bus tires, or 4 to 5 million tires per year.
The only new capacity planned to come onstream is at Hankook Tire's plant in Tennessee, the company plans to add 1 million new production capacity, which is expected to start production in 2026.
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