New leadership trio at German wholesaler Tyremotive

Over the past year or so, Global Automotive Investments Holding (GAI) has acquired a significant stake in Tyremotive GmbH, but managing director and co-founder Jochen Freier initially retained his almost quarter share in the German tyre and wheel wholesaler. Freier has now sold and stepped down as managing director “at his own request” on 31 January 2023, leaving behind him a 100 per cent GAI-owned business.

In the wake of Freier’s departure, Tyremotive appointed Christian Leibold, the company’s sales and logistics director since mid-2021, its new general manger. One GM quickly became two, and GAI, which stands behind some of the largest names in the European tyre wholesaling landscape, is also bringing in its own manager.

GAI reports that Tobias Herzberg, most recently managing director of Maxxis International’s business in Germany, joined the Dutch wholesale group on 2 January. He takes responsibility for all business activities and “commercial matters” at Tyremotive as general manager in close cooperation with Leibold, who will be responsible for “operational matters” within the company. GAI is “convinced that with this strong duo we will achieve great (further) development for both companies.”

Tyremotive & Rhino

Both companies? Leibold and Herzberg also take over as general managers at the top of Rhino Reifen, another of GAI’s German offshoots. Rhino Reifen is a wholesaler based near Münster and was founded in 2012 as the German subsidiary of Reedijk Banden Import, the wholesaler owned by Van den Ban since 2001.

The GAI connection deepens: At the same time as Jochen Freier left as Tyremotive managing director, the Dutch wholesale group named a successor, a name known to us through Van den Ban: Frans Pieter van Lenten. Having taken over the management of Rhino Reifen at the end of 2021, van Lenten will, together with Leibold and Herzberg, now manage the business of the two companies in Germany and beyond in cooperation with Henny Butter, who is the director at GAI responsible for the Dutch group’s international subsidiaries.