Toyo doubles capacity

T&A talks to Martin Sutherland, general manager at Toyo in the UK, for an update on the company development.

Toyo is perhaps one of the most recognised mid-market brands in the UK. A series of targeted media campaigns both above and below the line have gone a long way to establishing the brand as the performance tyre of choice for many driving enthusiasts. In spite of the success of the UK operation it remains answerable to Toyo Reifen in Germany, so there is no UK managing director, the head of the chain of command in the UK is Martin Sutherland. Martin Sutherland has been with Toyo in the UK for the past 21 years, joining the company from Pirelli; so he knows a thing or two about the market in the UK.

Toyo has recently moved premises at Rushden. The re-location was only about 100 yards up the road, but the new premises have doubled the available storage space allowing Toyo to improve its stock capacity and as consequentially improve its service to its customers. Martin Sutherland says, “We have virtually doubled our stock capacity by moving to this unit. It offers us 70,000 square feet, which is twice the area of the old unit. However, we have managed to relocate without too great a disruption to our service or distribution. In fact, in the past we used to hold stock at the dockside and at one point had as many as 70 containers sitting in storage. All that stock is now held here, and we still have room to expand.

“One of the limitations we had on developing the business was the warehouse capacity and our restriction on turning stock around. That is no longer an issue and that allows us to offer a full width of patterns and sizes in all ranges. That gives us the potential to further build the business and we have the capacity here to grow considerably in all areas.”

The wholesale and distribution side of the tyre trade is going through a period of expansion and we could point to a number of companies investing considerable sums in new premises and expanding coverage. Toyo, though, is probably one of the few manufacturers talking so positively of expansion. What makes Toyo such a strong developer at this stage?

“There are probably a number of contributory factors,” says Martin Sutherland, “In the last fiscal year to 2003 we had our best ever results in terms of income and in terms of unit sales. In a market said to have declined by 2 per cent we saw an across the board increase of 12 per cent. That includes passenger car, 4×4, light truck and truck tyres. In high performance car tyres we saw a 37 per cent increase in sales.”

Winning volume and value in today’s tyre market is an uphill struggle, competing against established brands and in some sectors having to fend off price-led competition from the far east means that a 12 per cent increase is no mean feat. What do you attribute the success to?

“Without doubt,” says Martin Sutherland, “Much of our success is due to the quality of the marketing campaigns we have established over the years. Mike Rignall came to Toyo with the remit to redevelop our marketing and to increase brand awareness and he has done an excellent job in raising our profile in the trade and with the consumer. The way we have marketed the brand is now paying dividends for us. We established a policy of exclusivity for dealers and we have stuck to that policy and we have ensured that our availability is good.”