News from the tyre wholesale sector
Independent US tyre wholesaler Tire Group International is opening a new distribution facility in Tampa, Florida. The 50,000 square foot (4,650 square metre) centre will be operational as of 4 May and will carry all brands that TGI offers.
By the time you read this a quarter of the world will be on some kind of lockdown along with virtually every car plant in Europe and many tyre factories. We are in uncharted territory. And, as ETRMA secretary general Fazilet Cinaralp said recently, we have to brace ourselves for “one of the biggest challenges our industry has ever faced”. And yet there have already been numerous examples of endeavour, enterprise and generosity in the face of such adversity.
As of 1 April, Tyremax will take over distribution of Continental truck and bus tyres in the Australian market. In addition to these products being available through the wholesaler’s distribution and delivery network, Tyremax will also provide all other facets of the service in relation to product warehousing, ordering, sales, logistics and technical support.
STARCO has taken on distribution of the Alliance and Galaxy agricultural, forestry and construction tyre lines in Switzerland under a newly-negotiated agreement with Alliance Tire Group (ATG). As authorised partner for the representation and distribution of Alliance and Galaxy tyres throughout this market, STARCO will provide its warehouse and distribution facilities as well as its expertise and skills in order to make ATG’s products more accessible to Swiss customers.
Goodyear plans to acquire a tyre wholesaler in Germany. Should the deal gain approval from the relevant antitrust authorities, Goodyear Dunlop Tires Germany GmbH will purchase Weilheim, Bavaria-based wholesaler and retailer Reifen Baierlacher. The tyre maker has not disclosed how much it will pay for the family-owned business.
Winchester-based Micheldever Tyre Services – which has established a wholesale distribution network of 15 sites around the country, supplying over 6,000 retailers nationwide – will stock a large selection of BFGoodrich’s All Terrain T/A KO2 and Mud-Terrain T/A KM3 ranges, helping to ensure excellent product availability throughout the year.
Micheldever group company Protyre is once again distributing Goodyear agricultural tyres within the UK market. It will supply the Goodyear Farm Tires range from its 20 agricultural centres across the country; it already reports high levels of customer interest from Protyre outlets in areas such as Cumbria, Pembrokeshire, Derbyshire, Bristol and Essex.
All 16 companies in the German Fintyre Group have now applied to open insolvency proceedings. But what lies ahead for the 1300-plus employees awaiting wages and salaries, the affected companies’ creditors, and the companies themselves? Sebastian Brunner, spokesman for Miguel Grosser, the provisional insolvency administrator at law firm Jaffé, told our sister website in Germany, Reifenpresse.de, that approximately 200 Reifen Krieg employees will receive their outstanding January wages and salaries in the coming days. Business at the group’s wholesalers and retailers is largely at a standstill, though the office of the provisional insolvency administrator has some more positive news on this too.
They are resigned, angry and desperate. But above all, they’re disappointed. Disappointed that they weren’t informed about the bankruptcy by their employer Fintyre, but by the media. Our sister publication in Germany, Neue Reifenzeitung, has spoken with staff at TyreXpert outlets in the north of the country to gain an insight into the mood of the workforce.
Just a few days after bankruptcy proceedings were initiated by Reifen Krieg GmbH, several other companies under the umbrella of the German Fintyre Group are now bankrupt, including almost all of the companies relevant to the operating business.
Tyre and wheel wholesaler Inter-Sprint Group has expanded the warehouse capacity at its main site in Moerdijk, the Netherlands. With the opening of a further 38,000 square metres of warehousing, Inter-Sprint has been able to increase the number of SKUs it stocks by at least ten per cent – more than 17,000 SKUs are now centrally stored at its distribution centre in Moerdijk.
German tyre distributor Reifen Krieg GmbH, part of the Fintyre Group of companies (Fintyre) active in tyre distribution and retail in Germany and Italy, filed bankruptcy proceedings on the evening of 6 February in Frankfurt, with lawyer Miguel Grosser appointed trustee. Tyrepress reported on Monday that the group’s chief executive officer, Claudio Passerini – who is also the CEO of the group’s umbrella organisation in Germany, Fintyre Group GmbH – had written to Fintyre’s German employees to inform them of restructuring necessary for the short-term to ensure its sustainable continuation in the wake of missed salary payments in January.
B.A Bush & Son (Bush Tyres) has congratulated Ken Nicholson on surpassing 55 years of continued service to the company. Nicholson registered the achievement in January 2020, having worked for four generations of the Bush family, starting with company founder Benjamin Arthur Bush, then his son Ivor Bush, and up to present day directors, Nigel Bush (Ivor’s son) and Nigel’s two sons, Ben and Tom.
Micheldever Tyre Service (MTS) states that it offers “the most comprehensive car mid-range tyre brand availability across the current market.” The wholesaler is exclusive distributor, or has preferred supplier arrangements, for some of the worlds’ leading manufacturers of mid-range brands, including Falken, General Tire, GT Radial, Sumitomo and Kormoran.
Davanti has unveiled a major distribution deal with Dutch wholesaler Tyre Trading International (TTI) at Equip Auto in Paris. The British tyre brand, which is now distributed in more than 60 countries globally, inked the deal offering next-day delivery across France, Germany, and the Benelux countries at the event.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
Tire Group International
Continental AG