“Our sales are extremely strong in an industry that’s slightly down,” says Tim Chaney, Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp.’s vice president of marketing.
“We’re up double digits,” Chaney told MTD during the recent 2023 SEMA Show.
“If you ask, ‘What’s really driving that?’, the good news is, there’s no one answer. It's a variety of things: strong product; our supply is sufficient; we have a strong sales force that still calls on our customers; good marketing; strategic and targeted promotions; and a very strong, diversified, multi-channel distribution strategy.
“We transitioned a few years ago from being heavily concentrated in one customer in the Northwest to diversifying that customer base nationwide and it’s proven to be a positive and strong strategy for us,” said Chaney.
Bend, Ore.-based Les Schwab Tire Centers Inc. enjoyed an exclusive, multi-state territory with Toyo that came to an end in 2019.
“We’ve been able to open up a lot of other points of sale, so we have strong representation in other parts of the country now.”
Chaney also discussed investments Toyo is making at two of its plants that supply passenger and light truck tires for the U.S. market.
Toyo’s plant in White, Ga., recently entered “phase five” of its development. “We’re pretty much at our max there.”
And production at the company’s consumer tire plant in Serbia, which opened last year, “has been ramping up.
“It won’t surpass” output at Toyo’s Georgia facility, “but it’s starting to get close.”
The Georgia plant “supplies a little more than double” than Toyo’s factory in Serbia, according to Chaney. “Next year, that will start to even out.”
Toyo continues to invest in its research and development capabilities, according to Todd Bergeson, senior manager of product planning and technical services.
“The big thing, investment-wise, is in our R&D facility at the (Georgia) plant. We’ve been growing in capability ever since” the factory opened in 2005.
The new Toyo Open Country A/T III EV, an electric vehicle-specific, all-terrain light truck tire, will be made at the Georgia plant, starting in early-2024, he noted.
