North America Tire Trader (NATT) is bringing its new Gritmaster passenger and light truck tire line to the United States and is offering exclusive territories to dealers and distributors who want to carry the product.
Gritmaster-brand tires, which are made in Thailand, “are on the water now,” says Gonzalo Santamarina, president of NATT.
He runs the company with Fernando Krasovsky, its CEO, and Adriana Santamarina, the firm’s chief financial officer. (All three are partners in NATT, with Gonzalo holding majority share.)
While Gritmaster tires are manufactured in Asia, NATT’s origins are in Mexico.
Parent company Tire Direct, which was founded in 2003, is based in Leon, Mexico, and is that country’s largest tire distributor, claim NATT officials.
“We cover the entire country — every single state,” says Gonzalo, who adds that Tire Direct averages nearly 40% year-over-year sales growth.
“We have several channels in Mexico. Our main channel is the customer who has a warehouse of his own. We ship tires to them and they distribute within their own areas. We have more than 1,000 distributors.
“We also have a retail channel. They buy for their stores and sell retail. We call that our ‘super-wholesale’ channel.”
Tire Direct’s main distribution center in Leon covers 1.7 million square feet. “On average, we stock 1.5 million units.” (The company has two other distribution centers in Mexico.)
NATT was founded in 2019 to serve North American customers, according to Gonzalo. “We started by doing factory-direct shipments and also shipping from our distribution centers in Mexico.”
The company opened a warehouse in Dallas, Texas, in 2020.
“We began shipping tires from Mexico to this facility in order to have inventory for U.S. customers.
“We started growing, so we needed to move to a new distribution center. We found a beautiful warehouse, where we are now located.”
The warehouse spans 90,000 square feet and stocks an average of 60,000 tires. It ships all over the U.S.
“Dallas is strategically located and we like to have plenty of inventory, so customers don’t have to wait a long time.”
More recently, NATT opened a retail store inside the distribution center. “It’s a unique shop with a 9,000-square-foot showroom,” says Gonzalo, who adds that the store draws customers from all over the Dallas area.
New opportunities
NATT’s Gritmaster line includes passenger, high performance, ultra-high performance and light truck tires, including all-terrain, mud-terrain and rugged-terrain designs, “in all the main sizes for the U.S. market,” says Gonzalo. (NATT also sells JK brand tires that are made in Mexico.)
The first wave of Gritmaster tires arrived in June.
“In the second stage, we’ll add more SKUs. We’ll eventually have more than 400 sizes.”
All Gritmaster tires come with road hazard and mileage warranties, with the latter varying by product.
“The first opportunity we’re offering to U.S. dealers is exclusivity,” says Gonzalo. “Secondly, our message to small and medium-sized dealers is that we have the logistics and the capabilities to support them.
“We want to build our distribution across the country,” including Hawaii and Puerto Rico. (NATT also has established distribution in Canada.)
“We want the U.S. market to know that we are here and our Gritmaster line provides new opportunities for both retailers and wholesalers.”
