One year ago, when discussing the replacement medium truck tire market, a commercial truck tire sales veteran told MTD, “I’ve never seen growth like this!” That momentum continued through 2022.
Full-year 2022 U.S. replacement medium truck tire shipments are expected to total 18 million units - a 20%-plus increase from last year’s levels. This follows a year-over-year increase of around 19% from 2020 to 2021.
Demand for medium truck tires was strong during the first nine months of 2022. And several manufacturers report that this positive momentum carried over into the fourth quarter.
“October and November were our biggest months,” a representative from one manufacturer told MTD. “Our November was off the charts.”
Continued growth could be off-set by several factors. There’s been “a slowing in the personal consumption of goods,” says Bob Costello, chief economist at the American Trucking Associations, which could cause a drop in freight movement. (In October, for-hire tonnage experienced the largest single monthly decline since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.)
Factors working in the favor of truck tire suppliers and dealers include the continuing release of pent-up demand and fleets holding onto older trucks and trailers.
“The age of equipment continues to increase,” a representative from a large commercial tire dealership told MTD. “This will force fleets to spend more on maintenance, including tires.”
The below chart looks at the past five years of U.S. replacement and original equipment medium truck tire shipments.
Click here to view the entire MTD’s 2023 Facts Issue, available in print soon!
2022 U.S. MEDIUM TRUCK TIRE SHIPMENTS
(in millions of units, rounded to the nearest one-hundred-thousandth)
| Year | Replacement | OE |
| 2022 | 28.0 | 6.5 |
| 2021 | 22.7 | 5.9 |
| 2020 | 18.5 | 4.5 |
| 2019 | 18.9 | 6.5 |
| 2018 | 21.0 | 6.2 |
*Source: MTD estimates
