Marangoni Tread success in Brazil

A success story for Marangoni is its activities in Brazil, thousands of miles from its European activities. Marangoni’s involvement in Brazil began in the early 90s as a partnership with Brazilian market leader UNISA for the transfer of technology for the manufacture and marketing of the Ringtread product. At its height, there was a network of 15 authorised RTS dealers in Brazil.

However, the serious economic downturn saw UNISA go bankrupt, threatening Marangoni’s progress in Brazil, but the operation in that country was kept alive by the determination of a group of former directors of UNISA, headed by Mr. Dary Fernando Figueiredo. The reason that Marangoni was so keen to remain established in Brazil is that the country is the world’s second largest market for retreads, with a monthly consumption of 12,000 tonnes of rubber, which corresponds to some 10 million retreaded truck tyres annually.

In 1998, Mr. Dary Fernando Figueiredo founded a new company with its head office in Sao Paulo, which had a small warehouse and just one customer. This eventually became Marangoni do Brasil and, in April 2001, a new facility was opened for the production of precured treads, representing an investment equivalent to nearly 12.6 million Euro at current exchange rates and covering an area of 53,000 square metres. Growth was rapid and, in 2002, the volume of treads produced reached 220,000, for 30 customers. The key to this success lies in the close partnership established between authorised dealers and Marangoni do Brasil; a relationship focused on the distribution of the product and the commercial assistance provided to the dealers in their work in the fleet market.

As far as Marangoni is concerned, the story is far from over, as future sales objectives involve a portfolio of more than 50 customers and sales of 550,000 retreads by the year 2005.