The Tires & Rubber show was unmistakably a genuine tyre trade show, despite its appearance as an event mainly attracting machinery and raw material suppliers. Among the 197 exhibitors at the show, which took place in Moscow from March 4-7, 2008, were only a handful of tyre manufacturers – but plenty of resellers, importers and wholesalers. And most of these companies are only interested in the distribution of tyre brands produced outside of Russia, i.e. in China, Korea or Europe.

Together with Russian importers such as Petromaster (Hankook, Sumo Firenza), Avantek (Alliance), Satim (Mitas) or Yarshintorg (Sumitomo), TransGaz Komplektatciya presented itself to visitors of the Moscow Tires & Rubber show and featured the “Primewell” brand. This brand is produced by Giti Tire in China and TransGaz is initially importing only truck tyres from this range. Later, however, Giti’s new importer in Russia will also import and distribute Primewell and Runway passenger car tyres. Runway is yet another brand from the GT group (Giti Tire from China and Gajah Tunggal from Indonesia). To what extent, if at all, TransGaz will play a major role with regards to importing the group’s core “GT Radial” tyre brand has yet to be decided, says Richard Lyons, sales director with Giti Tire Europe and thus responsible for the Russian tyre market, in an interview with Tyres & Accessories.