Yokohama HPT: a new chapter

New leadership team, re-starting truck tyre sales and developing a more ‘aggressive proposition’

Recent months have seen the appointment of a completely new leadership team at Yokohama’s UK distribution operation, Yokohama HPT Ltd. Well-known in the market for its high-performance passenger car tyre and wheel sales, the appointments signal the start of a new chapter. With that in mind, Tyres & Accessories visited the company’s Milton Keynes headquarters and distribution centre in order to meet with recently-appointed CEO Peter Fairlie; commercial director, Karl Naylor; and marketing manager, Lucie Dalton, in order to find out more.

As you step into Yokohama’s UK headquarters, the smell of fresh paint is in the air and everything feels a shade lighter. For the new leadership team, recent happenings represent a new beginning in the life of the business, something that is even reflected in the decor. Building on the legacy of strong brand awareness and consistent market position achieved over the years, the new team are clearly looking to refresh perceptions of the brand, its route to market and even which products they offer (the Yokohama truck tyre range is set for a re-launch, but more on that later).

But first, a little background. In October 2021, Yokohama appointed ex-Prometeon chief operating officer (COO) Gregorio Borgo as its European president. He brought with him a number of ex-Prometeon executives including now-Yokohama Europe chief commercial officer (CCO), Aleksandar Gramatikov. Last year, Borgo shared his plans for a European Yokohama tyre production base somewhere between Poland and the Czech Republic. Since then, the senior European executives have made a series of appointments across the continent designed to bring renewed energy to the Yokohama tyre business across Europe and to achieve the growth necessary to justify the large capital expenditure associated with an investment in a European tyre factory.

One such appointment was ex-Prometeon UK, Ireland & Nordics managing director, Peter Fairlie. Having joined the tyre industry as ATS Euromaster sales director – national fleets back in January 2006, Fairlie brings with him the best part of two decades of experience across fleet business, tyre retail and truck tyres, with particular strength in B2B aspects. Within his new role, Fairlie not only wants to bring a breath of fresh air into the Yokohama operation, he also specifically wants to develop the strengths of the business and present a more cohesive proposition.

One of Fairlie’s first strategic appointments was Karl Naylor who is something of a UK tyre industry veteran, with wide-ranging tyre management experience across wholesale and tyre manufacturer operations including the management of Grouptyre and sales directorship at Apollo-Vredestein and sales management roles at Kumho and Michelin (Fairlie also brought in Marisa Hever-Smith from Prometeon as CFO at an early point). In Fairlie’s words, he brought Naylor into the Yokohama leadership team in order to bring his passenger car tyre strengths to the table. Recently-appointed marketing manager, Lucie Dalton; and price and demand planning manager, Charlotte Hodgson complete its senior management team.

“We now have a solid team in place, a great product, modern environment and we are open for business”, Peter Fairlie explained, adding that the overall Yokohama UK team now “need to step up and be more aggressive in the market.” And that, slightly more specifically, means aiming for “significant growth”. To put it another way, modest market share means there is plenty of the market to go after.

In Fairlie’s estimation, the Yokohama brand is well-known, product quality is testified by original equipment on everything from Toyota to Porsche and Mercedes vehicles, so the next objective is to communicate what the company offers in terms of a proposition. That includes the people and product dimensions we have mentioned, but also distribution.

On the subject of distribution, Yokohama stands in a pretty unique position for a global top-eight tyre manufacturer in the UK – it has its own distribution centre alongside the headquarters. Moving forward, Fairlie wants to leverage that strength as part of a hybrid distribution strategy that will also utilise third-party logistics and – where appropriate – wholesale partners. In other words, everything is on the table when it comes to matching the right brands and right product lines within the wider Yokohama stable with the right distribution solutions. There is even the suggestion that the right customers can order direct from the factory in the right circumstances. In other words, it is about establishing the supply chain that fits.

“We now have a solid team in place, a great product, modern environment and we are open for business”

Moving forward, all of this strategic and operational development is going to be increasingly supported by data analysis. Rather than selling the range that was always sold, the process will be enhanced in light of the facts of the matter. That’s where the appointment of price and demand planning manager, Charlotte Hodgson, comes in.

Karl Naylor summed it up like this: “People talk about the new normal, but actually change is the new normal. Now it is about bringing the team with us”, explaining that the teams is motivated and better-informed and that the next step is to increase the company’s sales force.

Re-introducing Yokohama truck tyres to the UK market

Arguably the biggest single announcement is the news that Yokohama UK is re-introducing its truck tyre range to the market. The range has previously been distributed in conjunction with Vaculug, but now will re-start its life as a “free-sale product”.

That means that, primarily at least, the company will not be directly targeting fleets. As a result, selling Yokohama truck tyres in the UK won’t be about the integrated retreading and multi-life strategy that fleets generally expect. However, both Fairlie and Naylor re-iterated that Yokohama truck tyres are very retreadable and therefore the casings are quality products that continue to hold value throughout the well-known four-life phases.

Instead, Yokohama will focus on working with wholesale and dealer channels in the first instance. A couple of years down the line, once the Yokohama truck tyre proposition is re-established in the UK, a direct fleet tyre sales offer will return. There is no big initial sales target, but post-year-one will be about building significant growth off those initial levels. Specifically, that means doubling year-one levels in the second year of the initial four-year plan. By year four, volumes will have reached 40,000 units and integrated retreads as well fleet business will make perfect sense, if they are not already a reality.

Taken together, the personnel changes, the ramping up of distribution strengths into a stronger proposition and the rejuvenation of sales of the truck tyre product line – not to mention a lick of paint here and there – all communicate one thing: the present is a new chapter for Yokohama in the UK.