Richard Lyons new GITI Tire Europe head, plus new European structure

GITI Tire has appointed Richard Lyons as general manager as part of a series of moves that sees the firm implement a new organisational structure for its European operations. The new structure, which took effect 1 May 2011, has been established following the departure of Michael Andre in March. Andre previously held the role of marketing director for passenger car tyres Europe and was managing director of the company’s Giti Tire Germany GmbH German subsidiary.

Hervé Richert, GITI’s executive director, international sales and marketing described the new-look team a “direct consequence of GITI Tire Europe’s growth of business over recent years.” Writing in a statement detailing the reshuffle, he explained that it also follows the company’s “clearly defined strategy of building on strong relationships with its partners and customers with a focus on key markets in Europe and emerging markets” such as CIS and Russia:

GITI Tire has appointed Richard Lyons as general manager as part of a series of moves that sees the firm implement a new organisational structure for its European operations. The new structure, which took effect 1 May 2011, has been established following the departure of Michael Andre in March. Andre previously held the role of marketing director for passenger car tyres Europe and was managing director of the company’s Giti Tire Germany GmbH German subsidiary.

Hervé Richert, GITI’s executive director, international sales and marketing described the new-look team a “direct consequence of GITI Tire Europe’s growth of business over recent years.” Writing in a statement detailing the reshuffle, he explained that it also follows the company’s “clearly defined strategy of building on strong relationships with its partners and customers with a focus on key markets in Europe and emerging markets” such as CIS and Russia:

“There will be a very strong focus on working with our partners in continuing to build on our retail strategies in each market” commented Richert.

New OEM department to be based in France

Moving forward the company will also focus on European passenger car OEMS, complementing the position it has built in replacement markets. In order to drive this forward the company will announce a new OEM Europe department based in France.

Herve Richert continued: “We have now built up and established a significant  position in Europe offering a multi-brand product strategy in one of the most challenging and competitive market places worldwide. We have strengthened the image and reputation of our product brands, GT Radial, Primewell, Runway and Dextero, invested substantially in our marketing capabilities and continued to execute with our partners, our value approach strategy for passenger car, van and truck tyres. Our new structure in Europe has been developed to build on the customer intimacy programmes we are deploying in Europe.”

As a result Richard Lyons’ appointment as general manager Europe is seen as a key part of the implementation of the company’s aims. Lyons will lead an international team of European marketing, technical and management personnel who have experience within both the tyre and automotive sectors.

New country managers

The new team will include the appointment of country managers of strategic European markets including Germany, UK, Italy, France and Russia, in addition to new sales directors for the other European markets. According to GITI, the role of the country managers will be to build on the strong relationships with its partners and customers and the deployment of product, brand and retail strategies in their respective markets.

In order to work closely with the country managers, Corrado Moglia has been appointed to the position of marketing director – passenger car Europe in addition to his role of country manager for Italy. Corrado will lead the marketing activities of the GITI passenger car brands and coordinate the newly formed brand management teams across Europe.

Amaury Pouzet, newly appointed country manager for France will have the additional responsibility to lead the original equipment manufacturers team. Also joining the OEM team is Bertrand Saint-Supery, as technical director. Both Amaury and Bertrand have a wealth of knowledge in the area of OEMs and will manage the relationship between GITI and the European car manufacturers and will be based in France.

Sascha Kemper is appointed sales and marketing director – truck and bus for the GITI Tire subsidiary in Germany and will lead the sales and customer service team. Formally with Bandag and Michelin, Sascha joined GITI Tire a year ago.

Tony McHugh is appointed sales and marketing director Truck and Bus for the GITI Tire subsidiary in the United Kingdom and will lead the sales and customer service team. McHugh joined GITI Tire (UK) Ltd. in September 2008, bringing with him a wealth of road transport industry experience.

All these appointments also result in the selection of Carolin Knapp as human resource director Europe, based in Germany. Knapp joins from the automotive sector and will be responsible for the ongoing development of HR policies and procedures in conjunction with head office.

Ben Ashton is appointed finance director Europe. Ashton started initially with GITI Tire (UK) Ltd. and is now managing and controlling the financial activities throughout Europe for GITI and will be supported by finance managers in each of the key markets

Lennart Lindstrom maintains his current role as technical director Europe. He will also continue working closely with the head of the GITI Tire European Technical Centre (GETC) in the UK, Eddie Young.

“With this strong new organisation and the wealth of knowledge and ambition of the people involved, we will strengthen our market and consumer-focussed strategy,” said Richard Lyons, adding: “Thanks to our GETC we are developing and producing ‘Tyres made for Europe’. And thanks to our close partnership with professional and quality distributors in the markets we can provide our customers with a first class level of service as they ‘Discover the Value’ of our brands.”