Tire Group International LLC (TGI) is celebrating its 30th anniversary. And the Miami, Fla.-based company – which ships tires to more than 70 countries – has big plans for its rapidly growing United States business in 2023.
“You either get bigger or you go away,” TGI CEO Tony Gonzalez told MTD before the start of the firm’s anniversary celebration in Miami this past weekend. (Around 300 TGI customers and suppliers – many from Latin America – attended the event.)
TGI’s primary focus next year will be growing its Cosmo brand “and continuing to do what we started a few years ago, when we said, ‘We’re really going to focus the brand on the U.S. and we’re going to develop the breadth of line needed for the U.S. market.’”
The Cosmo line encompasses around 130 SKUs, including passenger, light truck and medium truck tires.
“We have about 80% market coverage and now our area of focus is, ‘Where can we develop further?’” Joaquin Gonzalez Jr., TGI’s president, told MTD. The company has three U.S. distribution centers - one in Miami; one in Tampa. Fla.; and another with a longtime partner in Portland, Ore.
Specifically, TGI plans to add sizes to its Mucho Macho high performance passenger tire and will roll out a new line, Shogun R, “which will be a softer-compound tire for ultra-performance in drift and autocross,” according to Tony, who founded TGI.
“We will have an R/T tire named RockIt, as well. And we are expanding the Kat Energy lineup with about 15 new sizes.”
In addition, the company is expanding its Cosmo brand TBR line “with two new patterns that will offer value and performance” and will come with a casing warranty, “as do all of our current TBR tires.
“We’re really focused on serving the independent tire dealer,” added Tony. “And we’re having fun doing it. We talk to our customers not corporately, but casually. You don’t always see that in our industry.
“Anyone can sell a product,” he told event attendees. “At TGI, we sell happiness.”
Click here to watch a video celebrating TGI's 30th anniversary.
