Growing tyre wholesaler GB Tyres has named Dan Woodward as the company’s new marketing manager. The appointment marks Woodward’s return to the tyre industry after time exploring opportunities in the automotive and technology fields. Woodward has more than 15 years tyre industry experience, including marketing and brand management positions at Trelleborg, Kumho and Bridgestone.
In addition to our live social media reporting and reporting the highlights of the 2022 Tyre Industry Conference in last month’s magazine, the December edition of Tyres & Accessories brings you curated coverage of the NTDA chairman and chief executive speeches as part of our “Looking back, Looking forward” review-of-the-year feature. With so much having taken place within the tyre market, the nation and the world as a whole, the two speeches offer a distinctly tyre distribution perspective on key issues relating to the associations growing membership, how it is developing relationships with other trade and charitable bodies and how it is investing in the future of the business via training initiatives.
To put the weirdness of 2022 into perspective, consider that tyre wholesalers must contend with the impact of both rising costs and falling costs. And this contradictory situation is but one of a host of challenges in a year that tore up the rulebook. Antwerp-based wholesaler Deldo recently shared its experiences with us.
Readers with an interest in European tyre wholesale won’t have failed to notice a couple of recent developments in Germany. Best4Tires, the firm previously known as Reifen Gundlach, entered into a binding agreement to purchase German tyre wholesaler 1a Berlin-Tyre GmbH in June, and the following month Goodyear announced an expansion of its wholesale presence in southwest Germany with the acquisition of local player Reifen Burkhardt.
Within Europe’s tyre wholesaling business, Inter-Sprint is a name that needs no introduction. A key player within Global Automotive Investment Holding, Inter-Sprint offers Europe’s largest tyre stocks and employs some 425 people. And as testified by the new warehouses flanking existing buildings at the wholesaler’s main site in Moerdijk, the Netherlands, the company is still […]
Germany’s Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) has approved Pneuhage Gruppe’s acquisition of tyre wholesaler Gewe Reifengroßhandel GmbH. This means that the business will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pneuhage Management GmbH & Co. KG from 1 January 2023 and become the third tyre wholesaler in the Pneuhage Group alongside Interpneu and Reifen Center Wolf.
Just as too many cooks spoil the proverbial broth, multiple stakeholders can sometimes be problematic in the business world. Peter-Alexander van ‘t Hof tasted this particular broth a few months ago and found it bitter and unpalatable. Yet he isn’t letting this ruin his appetite for the tyre industry.
Omni United has announced that the company will continue supporting the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), the largest private funder of breast cancer research in the world. The announcement comes as October marks the start of the Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Omni United has been supporting BCRF since 2011. Over the years it has donated $1.4 million to BCRF, which has fuelled 28,000 hours of research.
On 7 September, American Tire Distributors (ATD) announced the completion of its Canadian subsidiary’s sale to Groupe Touchette, Canada’s largest locally-owned tyre distributor. By divesting the National Tire Distributors (NTD) business, the wholesaler says it is now “better positioned to serve its customers across the US” and to “invest in the enhanced innovation that is driving its transformation efforts.”
From a standing start less than a decade ago, GB Tyres is now aiming to be a key player in the UK wholesale business. When the company’s full-year financial results come in at the end of August, turnover will have reached £53 million. So, in other words, the business is trucking along nicely and making good progress towards its goals. Tyres & Accessories met up with Commercial Director Graham Hutchison and founder Sukhi Singh to visit the company’s Tipton headquarters and relatively new Oldbury wholesale warehouse.
Liverpool-based Kirkby Tyres has played a leading role in the UK tyre business for much of its post-war history. Much has changed during that time, so with Kirkby Tyres’s parent company celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, Tyres & Accessories spoke to chairman Gordon Rosenthal in order to find out more about the past, present and future of the well-known tyre wholesaler.
Wholesaler Inter-Sprint has expanded the portfolio of brands it offers with the addition of Dunlop motorcycle and scooter tyres. The first Dunlop SKUs have arrived, and the wholesaler says their availability means that “Inter-Sprint is reinforcing its name as ‘The tyre supplier for Europe’.”
The recent opening of a plant in Serbia testifies that Shandong Linglong Tire has big plans for Europe. One of its key markets within the region is Germany, and the tyre maker has now found a new distribution partner for this country, as well as for Austria and Switzerland – the ‘DACH’ region. German tyre wholesaler and retailer Reifen Straub has taken on this role.
Norwegian tyre business Norgesdekk has bought 67 per cent of the shares of Valla Dack AB as part of a move into the Swedish market. The Swedish business, which turns 40 this year, had a turnover of more than SEK 190 million in 2021 (£15.444 million; 18.330 million euros).
Wholesaler RH Claydon (RHC) opened its eighth depot on Monday. The facility in Carlisle’s Kingmoor Park North enterprise zone is now open for deliveries and collections between 8 am and 5:30 pm Monday and for collection 9 am to 12 pm Saturdays. RHC says the addition of the Carlisle depot will allow greater coverage of the north and border areas.
GB Tyres
NTDA
Omni United/BCRF
Chris Anthony/Tyre Industry Publications Ltd
Kirkby Tyres
Valla Däck AB; Norgesdekk