Tiger Wheels to Spin Off Tyre Outlets

Early in November Tiger Wheels announced restructuring plans, which would see the company diverge its entire shareholding in South African retailer Tiger Wheel & Tyre and wholesale tyre businesses in the UK and SA. These businesses would list on the JSE (Johannesburg Stock Exchange) as Tiger Automotive Limited (TAL). The move would spell the end of the interdependent relationship between the company’s German-based subsidiary and aluminium wheel producer ATS Beteiligungsgesellschaft (ATS) and the after-market retail and wholesale operations.

The group reportedly said it and separately listed TAL had balance sheets strong enough to boost organic and acquisitive growth. TAL would be strongly placed to take advantage of growth opportunities in SA, a market that accounted for 80 per cent of its revenue. Buoyant conditions in the local economy and motor industry were likely to double TAL’s owned and franchised retail stores in the medium term.

Tiger Wheels said it would continue to be a global wheel-manufacturing company. The company has manufacturing plants in SA, Germany, the US and Poland, in addition to Tiger Wheel & Tyre retail outlets in southern Africa.

Company history

Tiger Wheel and Tyre, the wholly-owned retail arm of Tiwheel, had its humble beginnings nearly 40 years ago in modest and cramped premises in unfashionable Vrededorp, Johannesburg. It was from there, in 1967, that the first custom wheels were sold to car enthusiast.

The “shopfront” end of the wheel manufacturing and sales micro business later evolved into a more formalised, and subsequently branded, store which retailed, and later also wholesaled, aftermarket wheels and tyres into the late 1970’s. In the early 1980s, retail and wholesale were separated into two divisions.

Today Tiger Wheel and Tyre has a network of 48 specialised and focused retail aftermarket wheel and tyre stores which spans South Africa and also reaches into Namibia and Botswana. The bulk of the stores, 34 in total, are Tiger Wheel and Tyre-owned and operate as single business units, while the balance are owner-operated and financed franchised stores. The company is widely acknowledged as the market leader in this specialised and focussed field. An additional strength of this business has been its ability to locate and develop its own sites, many of which are owned by the company.

Yokohama SA, through its international division supplies TSW branded aftermarket wheels to wholesale distributors in some 30 countries around the world. Yokohama SA is the owner of the TSW brand for the whole world, excluding North and South America. Currently, according to official documents, the TSW-branded aftermarket wheels distributed locally and internationally by Yokohama SA are sourced from licensed designers and manufacturers located predominantly in Asia.