Two southern California-based wholesale distributors, Wholesale Tire Distributors (WTD) and Turbo Wholesale Tires, aren’t just investing in new locations. They’re also rolling out new products at the national level.
WTD recently relocated its headquarters to a new, state-of-the-art facility in Los Angeles, Calif. It spans 300,000 square feet and “symbolizes WTD’s commitment to growth and innovation in the tire industry,” according to WTD officials. “Ara Tchaghlassian, the visionary behind WTD, has ambitious plans for the future.
“In line with this relocation, Ara aims to stock an astounding 700,000- plus (tires) nationwide, ensuring an unmatched variety and availability from private label brands, such as Arroyo Tires and American Roadstar Tires,” both of which WTD owns and markets.
Moreover, WTD is rapidly expanding its presence in other states, including Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
As part of its strategy, WTD also is growing its Arroyo and American Roadstar lines. The Arroyo line is expanding to cover more than 300 SKUs, “ensuring customers have a wide selection to choose from.”
New products hitting the market this year include the Arroyo Runflat tire and an electric vehicle (EV)-focused product. WTD also added 19-, 20-, 21- and 22-inch sizes to the Arroyo passenger tire line.
In addition, the company reports it has made “impactful strides in sales, catering to the heavy-duty commercial vehicle segment.”
WTD’s expansion of its Arroyo TBR line “ensures that WTD customers have access to a wide range of sizes, catering to various vehicle types and preferences.”
WTD projects that by the end of 2023, “the combined sales of these brands will reach $200 million worldwide.”
Irwindale, Calif.-based Turbo, which was acquired by Kingswood Capital Management last year, had a busy summer.
In June, Turbo acquired Tire Wholesalers Inc. (TWI), a Michigan-based distributor with locations in its home state, plus Salt Lake City, Utah, and Chicago, Ill.
Later that month, Turbo announced eight new tire lines — four of which are available now.
One is an EV tire, the Voltec, in Turbo’s Lexani Tire brand, that’s available in ultra-high performance and touring sizes. There’s also a new, rugged terrain tire in Turbo’s RBP brand; a third-generation M/T tire, the RBP Tire M/T 3; and a wide-ranging Lexani brand run-flat tire, the RFX.
All four lines will include more than 30 sizes in the first phase of their launch, according to Turbo officials.
Upcoming products include a premium, 50-SKU TBR line in the RBP brand; re-engineered RBP brand S/T and H/T tires; and Turbo’s first-ever A/T product, also under the RBP brand.
Turbo officials say the tires will be available in time for next month's SEMA Show, which takes place in Las Vegas, Nev.
Turbo also has become an approved vendor for the Independent Tire Dealers Group LLC and more recently unveiled a new associate dealer program.
Phillip Kane, Turbo’s CEO, recently told MTD that the company is focused on “adding value to our customers’ businesses. We’ve made significant investments in our product portfolio - as well as our people, processes and infrastructure - to allow our customers to make higher profits and to serve them how and when they want.
“We’ve grown our unit volumes and share considerably in our first six months (of the year), as a result.
“We want to continue to add products, brands, capabilities and points of distribution that add value for our customers,” said Kane.
“As an owner of multiple brands, we also want to continue to introduce new products that consumers want and we want to bring those products to market really quickly.”
Commenting on the possibility of more acquisitions, Kane told MTD that “first and foremost, our current focus is on completing the integration of Turbo and TWI as smoothly as we can to not disrupt any of our customers, vendors or associates and to ensure we are delivering the benefits of the combination to all these important constituencies as quickly as possible.
“Going forward, we have plans to continue to grow, as we have a strong desire to make our brands and products more accessible to more consumers.
“We expect to do that both organically, as well as through additional acquisitions,” he said.
