With the recent news of Petlas Tire expanding into the U.S. passenger tire marketplace and its exclusive sales agreement with Miami-based Oriente Tire USA, Gus Lima, CEO at Oriente Triangle Latin America, has his sights set on the necessary steps to grow the global market share of the world’s No. 51 tiremaker and how to make sure those tire dealers that take on the emerging brand will be happy they did.

Petlas is already an established consumer tire brand in European markets, and with the expansion into the United States, Lima says he’s committed to organically building a strong presence within the passenger, light truck and SUV space. He’s also looking for the right industry veteran to lead the launch efforts.

While the Petlas agricultural and OTR products are already available and distributed within the United States, Lima calls the U.S. passenger product line “a work in progress,” as products tailored to the European market will be redesigned and made new to meet the demands of North American consumers. This includes the addition of an all-new all-season tire, already in development. Still, the company has a wide range of winter and summer tires approved and available immediately by container load for dealers interested in getting in early with a growing brand with minimal competition.

“What I envision is a product line that’s a European tire, which is a high-quality tire at a good a profit and price for the dealers and the consumers,” Lima explains. “So basically what I’m looking for in well-populated states are independent tire dealers that align with a territory with protection. We’re not really ambitious at this time with the volume. I know that we have quite a few tires allocated for the U.S. market already, so we have product to sell at this moment and they will be expanding the capacity, but we want to do things right. I’m not really looking for a giant tire distributor to come in and say I want to take the line. I know that my plan is more tedious and it’s harder work, but I want a more direct manufacturer and I’m the distributor. But we want to (have) a direct contact with the person that’s mounting the tires on the vehicles. We want to go (into those shops) and we want a few good dealers.”

According to Lima, Petlas was founded by a tire dealer in Turkey who had the tires designed to be of good quality and positioned as a “better” product. A core benefit of the product line from a dealer perspective is territorial exclusivity – and a focus providing a more profitable product to its protected dealers.

“[Petlas is] making a good product and making the best they can,” explains Lima. “And the dealer is doing the best he can and he or she deserves to make money. You know? That makes sense. That’s what everybody wants to do. And in this market it’s, it’s increasingly challenging.”

Lima is no stranger to selling into the South American and Latin American markets, yet he accepts the fact that he needs recruit top talent to properly launch the Petlas passenger, light truck and SUV products into the U.S.

“We’re ready to sell tires right now,” says Lima. “The other thing that I’m doing is that we are interviewing for U.S. professionals to run this company because my expertise is Latin America and we understand that this market is different. So we are now looking for somebody who is an active or a veteran of the industry that would like to guide us, and Petlas, into this market so that we make less mistakes. That person, whoever it is, will be basically running the program for us. We created a brand new company that is well capitalized and we’re ready to rock and roll.”

Petlas tires are manufactured in Turkey and are not subject to A/D or C/V duties, which makes them very competitive, the company says. Petlas produces PCR, SUV and LTR tire in sizes ranging from 12- to 20-inches. Production is located at the company’s Kırşehir, Turkey plant, which produces 11 million car tires, 1.5 million agricultural txes, 850,000 TBR tires and 400,000 OTR tires. The company has invested nearly $775 million since 2005 to increase capacity.

The Petlas products to be distributed by Oriente Tire USA in the United States includes:

Passenger

• PT311-Elegant
• PT515-Imperium
• PT525-Progreen
• PT535 Imperium
• PT711 Velos Sport
• PT721 Velox Sport
• PT731 Velox Sport
• PT741 Velox Sport (also in RUN FLAT)
• W601 Snow Master
• W651 Snow Master
• PT555 Multi Action(four season)

SUV

• PT411 Explero A/S
• PT421 Explero A/T
• PT431 Explero H/T
• W671 Explero ( MS winter)

LTR

• PT825 Full Power
• PT825 Full Power Plus
• PT835 Full Power
• PT875 Advente MS
• PT925 Full Grip (MS winter)
• PT935 Full Grip (winter tire)
• PT945 Full Grip (winter tire)

For more information on the Petlas Tire U.S. line or to discuss joining the team, call 786-573-0757, email [email protected] or visit orientetireusa.com.