FINDLAY, Ohio — Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. is targeting Latin / South America for exponential growth as part of its global growth strategy.
Cooper, which has set up sales agents in 21 Latin American and Caribbean nations, anticipates selling 4 million to 5 million units throughout Latin America by 2020, according to a presentation the company made recently to investors and stock analysts.
The company did not disclose its current rate of sales for comparison, but did make reference in its presentation to expected reductions in duties throughout Latin America.
To do so, Cooper expects to leverage its manufacturing capacity in Mexico, which it said in the investors' presentation it has the opportunity to expand by 50 percent. It did not elaborate on those plans, saying only it expects to be able to take advantage of “low cost, near-sourced manufacturing” that offers a “faster response to market demand changes.”
Capacity at the company's plant in Mexico, the Corporación de Occidente S.A. de C.V. factory in El Salito, is listed at 18,500 car and light truck tires daily.
In addition to the network of distributors for its Cooper brand, Cooper has assigned distribution rights to the Mastercraft brand to Tire Group International L.L.C. throughout Central America and the Caribbean. The contract, recently renewed, also designates TGI as a fill-in distributor for the Cooper brand in the Caribbean, allowing customers in the region who buy direct from Cooper the benefit of a quick source of supply when required.
According to Cooper, here is a list of independent Latin American distributors tied to the tire maker:
- Aruba: Global Trading Aruba N.V.
- Argentina: Fortalein S.L., Buenos Aires.
- Bahamas: Multi-Auto Parts & Accessories Co. Ltd., Nassau.
- Bolivia: Socoser S.R.L., La Paz
- Brazil: Japura Pneus, Manaus; and Super Tire Coml Imp e Exp Ltda., Sao Paulo.
- British Virgin Islands: Virgin Island Motors Ltd., Tortola
- Chile: Off Road S.A., Santiago
- Colombia: Interdespro C.I., Bogota
- Dominican Republic: Cabrera Motors CxA, Santo Domingo
- Ecuador: Conauto / Tire City, Guayaquil
- Grenada: Spice Island Traders Ltd., St. George's
- Guatamela: Autopartes de Guatemala S.A., Guatamela City
- Honduras: Servicentro Barandillas, San Pedro Sula
- Martinique: Pastel, Lamentin
- Paraguay: GyS Cubiertas S.A., Asuncion; and Yhaguy Respuestos, Fernando de la Mora
- Peru: Llantas Heintz S.A., Lima
- St. Vincent: Paul's Tyre Shop Ltd., Kingstown
- Trinidad: Mileage Mack Ltd., San Fernando
- Turks & Caicos Islands: Mackie's Auto & Truck Repair, Providenciales
- U.S. Virgin Islands: Tropic View dba HH Tire & Battery, St. Croix; and Rodriguez Auto Parts Inc., St.
- Uruguay: Elia Alineaciones S.R.L., Montevideo