Yokohama Grants GB Auto Egyptian Distribution Rights

Egypt’s Ghabbour Auto SAE, the country’s largest vehicle manufacturer and distributor of several imported automotive brands, has entered into an agreement with Yokohama Rubber to sell its passenger car, light commercial vehicle, truck, bus and construction equipment tyres in Egypt through its own outlets as well as via a dealership network that gives it a total of 300 points of presence nationwide. The Yokohama deal, states GB Auto, may enable it to quadruple tyre sales in the 2010 financial year.

“I’m very pleased that we have acquired the right to add Yokohama tyre products to our diverse portfolio of global brands,” said GB Auto CEO Dr. Raouf Ghabbour. “Adding Yokohama will allow us to provide high-quality tyres to the Egyptian markets and complements our existing Lassa range, where sales growth has been constrained by supply availability. Yokohama is a global leader in the tyre industry, and its expanded presence in Egypt through GB Auto will ramp up the market’s overall competitive metabolism.”

The addition of Yokohama to the GB Auto portfolio is expected to enable the company’s tyre business to post revenues in the 240 million pound (£28.1 million) range this fiscal year, Ghabbour added, noting that sales revenues from Lassa Tyres in the 2009 financial year amounted to more than 60 million Egyptian pounds (£7.0 million). The company, which has participated in Egypt’s tyre business for more than half a century, is the exclusive Egyptian distributor of Lassa passenger car and light commercial vehicle tyres, and also imports a range of Double Coin brand truck, bus, OTR and industrial tyres.