In this MTD exclusive, Tony Gonzalez, CEO of Tire Group International LLC (TGI), discusses why his company is investing in dealer support and its Cosmo brand.

MTD: Can you bring us up to speed on TGI’s business so far in 2026, especially as it pertains to the company’s Cosmo brand? 

Gonzalez: We’re aggressively growing our footprint with Cosmo around the country. One of the things with Cosmo is that we're trying to separate ourselves from the pack through our marketing efforts, especially the grassroots marketing efforts we've employed for the last three-and-a-half years. The marketing we’ve done has really started to pay dividends in terms of brand recognition and consumers coming in to buy our products.

Another level to that is the new products we’ve produced: the Kurrent EV tire (and) the GripIt XT, which has been in the market for the last five to six months. We’re reaping those rewards. Our dealers and our distributors have seen the fact they can make a little more money on Cosmo, given the marketing, given our warranty suite, given the fact we have a rebate program and an associate dealer program for the brand – all the bells and whistles.We bring a lot to the table with Cosmo that a lot of tier-threes and tier-fours are not bringing. 

One of the coolest things we’ve done is our annual Kool Kat Ambush in Miami. We had more than 5,000 people show up and more than 750 cars. We had to turn away over 300 cars. Next year, we’ll have capacity for over 1,000 cars. This year, we did our first one in Orlando, which was also the grand opening of our Orlando distribution center. We had close to 2,000 people at that one and somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 to 350 cars. We’re going to do Portland in August and Tampa in September. (Editor’s note: TGI has three distribution centers: one in Orlando, one in Tampa and a third in Portland, Ore.) We’re also doing it in Puerto Rico again. We have really locked into something with this lifestyle car show concept.

MTD: The last time we talked, you mentioned that TGI’s goal is to turn Cosmo into what you’ve called “a lifestyle brand.” Can you elaborate?

Gonzalez: Cosmo is one of the oldest import brands in the U.S. We’ve been importing this brand for 31 years. It has a reputation. It has a name in the marketplace. Now that we’re putting all this marketing behind it, we’re taking it to a whole new level. The fact we have the type of events we're producing ourselves and on top of that, all of the marketing materials that go with the brand … if you go to koolkatshop.com, there’s no other brand that has the variety of lifestyle products we have available to the general public. We have consumers from as far away as Japan and Europe ordering our goods and our products. We have a very recognizable mascot that we’ve trademarked for 31 years. All of that put together – with the fact our dealers have bought into the quality of the product and the look of the product – and we are building a tire that has more bells and whistles and practical design features that really set it apart from the competition and put it on par with tires in tier-two and tier-one.

MTD: TGI recently inked a strategic partnership with Big Brand Tire & Service, one of the five biggest tire dealerships in the country, bringing Cosmo to southern California. Are you looking to form similar partnerships with other chains?

Gonzalez: Big Brand is one of the major tire retail chains in the country. We’ve only gone in there with a limited number of SKUs and sizes … what we call a limited pilot program. We’ve not only exceeded expectations and have had to replenish stock ahead of schedule, we’ve put our full weight and marketing resources behind the program, as well. We’re doing a geofencing program for the stores that are piloting the program. We’re exchanging information on how we’re pinpointing the audiences that are getting targeted. Big Brand shares sellout data with us to make sure we’re tailoring the program to get maximum impact and effect. We also have set out on a three-month event activation schedule, where  every two weeks we're at Big Brand Tire stores. We’re going in there with our full activation team, giving away thousands of dollars of Cosmo apparel at each activation. We’ve connected with local southern California celebrities. We’ve also connected with multiple local car clubs to give the activations some gravitas. We're doing things to show what Cosmo’s all about.

MTD: How’s the Kat Kash program developing? Are you planning to enhance it even more?

Gonzalez: We have over 500 dealers signed up for the program nationwide and that’s growing very quickly. In terms of enhancements, we’re running a national Kat Kash rebate that gives consumers $10 a tire and pulls them to our dealers who are part of the program. That’s the type of thing that’s available through our associate dealer program. We’re giving Kat Kash retailers tools to upsell their customers to a Cosmo product.

MTD: How’s the new distribution center in Orlando running? Are there plans to set up more distribution centers?

Gonzalez: Orlando is growing incredibly well – far exceeding expectations. Portland is growing at double-digit rates year-over-year. We’ve moved Portland from 20,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet. We’ve always done business throughout Florida, but the Oregon/Washington State area was really new for us, even though we had partnered with an existing group that we were backing for a few years. Our objective is to grow our own footprint with our own D/Cs, where we don’t have aligned partners. But we will never go into a market where we have an aligned partner who’s been loyal to us. There’s no reason for that. Luckily, we have a host of great partners around the country that are committed to growing Cosmo and those relationships will be 100% honored.

MTD: We don’t often talk about TGI’s Astro brand. Where does Astro fit within your overall strategy? What investments is TGI making in Astro?

Gonzalez: Astro is a whole other world in terms of its segments: industrial, OTR and ag. We do most of the Astro business out of our own D/Cs and in export markets, where we’ve had a presence with Astro for more than 30 years. We're making a more concerted effort, especially with our Astro radial OTR line, which is picking up traction.  We’ve also expanded the  Astro line. Our current SKU count is over 900. Our catalog is close to 100 pages. We’re adding sizes and molds. You’ll be seeing more Astro in the near future.

MTD: What else can we expect to see from TGI during the rest of 2026 and into next year?

Gonzalez: We have close to 60 event activations in the next six months after having completed 70 activations in the first half. Last year, we did a total of 90 activations. We’re going to blow that (number) away. We’re bringing out new marketing products in terms of giveaways and products for our Kool Kat Shop.

The enthusiasm behind Cosmo - both within our organization and outside the organization - is really the driving force. We continue to be good partners to our distributors and our retailers.  As a company, we’ve grown and we’ve grown at an impressive rate and you’ll continue to see us move along that track of upward movement.

We market tires. We don’t sell tires. That’s the mindset we have. Anyone can sell a tire if they’re willing to give a low enough price. We’re here to market. We look for aligned retailers and distributors who want to make a better margin because they have a product they can trust and the consumer recognizes and asks for. That will be the template going forward.