UNION, N.J. — Importer/distributor Foreign Tire Sales (FTS) has hired industry veteran Minoo Mehta as CEO and tasked him principally with helping build the Otani brand in North America.
Mehta, whose three-decade-plus tire industry career encompasses both retail and wholesale, will work alongside FTS Founder and President Richard Kuskin and his hand-picked team toward their goal of building the Otani brand.
Mehta — not to be confused with the managing director of Balkrishna Industries (BKT) Ltd. USA Inc. and BKT Tires Inc. of the same name — started in retail in California in the late 1990s before joining Martino Tire & Auto and later Zafco International in Florida.
He founded Tires Direct Wholesale (TDW) in 2015 and later added Tire Super Centers (TSC) in Jacksonville, Fla. TDW was wound down a few years ago amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and Mehta later sold TSC.
FTS, which celebrated 50 years in business last year, has been the importer of record for Otani Tire Co. Ltd. — a family-owned, Sampran, Thailand-based consumer and commercial tire producer — since 2016/17.
FTS offers a broad portfolio of Otani-brand products, covering passenger, SUV/CUV, light truck, radial and bias-ply medium truck, specialty trailer and agricultural tires.
Otani Tire was founded in in 1986 by Kiatichai Limpichotipong, and he continues to lead the company along with wife Saeng-arun Limpichotipong (vice president) and children Ekachai Limpichotipong (managing director) and Orawan Limpichotipong (marketing/sales director).
The company operates two plants: the original bias-ply tire factory in Thailand's Nakhonpathom District west of Bangkok, and a radial passenger and truck/bus tire plant in Sampran that opened in 2017.
On behalf of Otani, FTS conducts on-vehicle tests of the Thai company's products in Texas, subjecting each new construction to 40,000-mile trials before approving them for sale in the U.S.
In addition, Otani/FTS offer mileage warranties on all Otani tires and back that up with a two-retread warranty on the medium truck/bus tire lines.
