Marangoni Reports Strength in Russian Market

Ellerbrock, the German subsidiary of the Marangoni Retreading Systems Group, has reportedly taken leadership in the Russian truck retread market after a decade of growth. Marangoni report that at least half of Russia’s retreaders are directly supplied with Marangoni/Ellerbrock products.

The size of the market is about 48 million car tyres (including OE) and about 7 million truck tyres (including OE). Over the past three years, truck sales have doubled in a country with over 700,000 kilometres of roads and 30,000 kilometres of expressways and highways. Marangoni says that unofficial but reliable estimates indicate a truck retread market of about 150,000 to 200,000 tyres, of which one third are retreaded locally and two thirds are imported, mostly from Central and Western Europe. Official figures for 2007 indicate 7.3 million units in the European truck retread market, which means that the Russian market accounts for about 2.4 per cent of the overall western, central, and eastern European market.

Since the late 1990s, the Marangoni Retreading Systems Group, present in this market through its German subsidiary Ellerbrock and sales manager Christian Asmuth, has invested heavily in the development and support of some important local retread partners. In 2000 a first retreading plant, in St. Petersburg, was established. In the meantime, some of the leading Russian truck tyre distributors approached Marangoni’s European partners, mostly in Germany, with the intention to import quality retreads, mainly the Profil-Liner and Kontur types, based on traditional technology, as well as the Ringtread models based on the more recent Ring technology.

“Today in Russia,” affirms Marco Mandrioli, sales & marketing Director of Marangoni Retreading Systems and general manager of Ellerbrock, “the RINGTREAD products are well known by the leading operators in the truck tyre sector and hold the upper end of the market as a high-quality, high-performance alternative to new tyres. The growth in domestic demand for quality retreads, mostly in Ringtread, has given Marangoni/Ellerbrock the opportunity to focus on the development of new retread partners that work with both Ringtread and traditional technologies. Today the Italian group, through its German subsidiary, is the leader on the Russian market. In fact, at least eight out of the sixteen retreaders in Russia are directly supplied with Marangoni/Ellerbrock products from the German plant located in Hensted-Ulzburg near Hamburg.” It is important to note, says Marangoni, that two partners of the group, GoodWheel in St. Petersburg and another one in Moscow, have already adopted the Ringtread technology and other Ringtread technology retreaders will be added to the existing ones by the end of 2008.

“Furthermore,” continues Mandrioli, “starting this year, Marangoni/Ellerbrock will implement a training program for operators in the truck tyre sector, but above all for users, with particular reference to fleets. The course objective is to create awareness of the extraordinary benefits offered by a Ringtread product in terms of reliability, safety, grip, and fuel savings. These are all characteristics that ensure performance levels similar to those granted by high-quality new, tyres, but with decidedly lower costs.”