Ewan has been editor of Retreading Business since 2006 and of Tyre & Rubber Recycling since the magazine was founded. During this period he has become an expert on the global tyre recycling sector. He has many years' experience as an automotive journalist including a period at Tyres & Accessories.
GRI Continues to Grow in Germany
Germany is one of the largest specialty tyre markets in Europe. With all the major players being present in the country, competition has been very high.
GRI Continues to Grow in Germany
However, GRI has been able to continue on a strong growth journey by offering a good value proposition and ensuring that the end users are satisfied with GRI products, and their needs are fulfilled.
GRI focuses on selling agriculture tyres through a distribution network, where the main customers are Agri machinery (tractor)dealers, contractors and tyre dealers, as well as contractor specialised companies that offer their services and machinery to farmers. “We have our warehouse in the south of Germany and we deliver tyres to all areas in the country. We also sell direct containers from Sri Lanka to the larger distributors,” explained Teemu Tirronen, General Manager, GRI Germany.
With challenges in the global economy, especially in the logistics sector, transactional costs have increased significantly. To mitigate the resultant price changes, GRI took a forward-thinking approach in October 2021, where it started the wholesale business for agriculture tyres in Germany. “The wholesale business has increased steadily, and we have been able to secure medium and small-scale customers, who are mainly contractors and Agri machinery dealers. With such customers have a better possibility to use our value proposition compared to big distributors who usually look solely at the price,” said Teemu Tirronen.
GRI is a Tier 2+ segment specialty tyre supplier and has to compete with brands that have already been in the German market for many years. However, customer feedback for GRI tyres has been extremely positive, where they highlight that the quality of GRI tyres is at the same or even higher level than some of the other Tier 2+ brands. All-round performance on and off-road, and wide tread width of the Agri radial tyres are some of the features appreciated by the customers.
On GRI Material Handling tyres, Teemu Tirronen said; “We are currently supplying GRI material handling tyres through our exclusive distributor, Pneuhage/Interpneu. They are one of the biggest tyre chains and wholesalers in Germany. Pneuhage has plans to significantly grow its material handling tyre sales in Germany with GRI tyres and we support Pneuhage in its efforts in every way possible.”
Supplying Premium Plus ULTIMATE XT to KION for their new LINDE forklifts is also helping GRI to grow the aftermarket sales in Germany. GRI is also proud to supply its material handling tyres to other prominent OEMs such as LIEBHERR, BLICKLE and CAT.
As GRI continues to strengthen its presence in Germany, the focus for agriculture tyres will be on securing strong regional partners and enhancing the customer base of agricultural machine dealers and contractors. GRI will also work closely with our OEM partners and Pneuhage to grow its material handling business in Germany.