HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — Tire Brands America (TBA) is introducing the Xcellent brand to the U.S. tire market, and is searching for "dedicated" regional wholesalers to handle the brand.
TBA calls Xcellent "a super economy brand of consumer products." The brand is made in Thailand in conjunction with production partner Crown Tyre.
TBA has started to roll out the Xcellent Roadbreaker and other lines:
- Roadbreaker A/T; 24 SKUs in rim sizes 15-22 inches; available now;
- Roadbreaker M/T; 12 SKUs in rim sizes 17-22 inches; available late second quarter;
- Roadbreaker R/T; 31 SKUs in rim sizes 17-22 inches; available third quarter;
- ST Trailer tires; 14 SKUs in rim sizes 13-16 inches; available later this month;
- UHP; 30 SKUs in rim sizes 15-26 inches; available in fall;
- SUV; 16 SKUs in rim sizes 17-26 inches; available in fall.
A TBR line is planned for spring 2021.
"We are leading with price, no doubt about it," Steve Hutchinson, TBA president/CEO, said.
"... With the unfortunate and sudden downturn in the economy, we feel we are in the hot price points, with very good products, at the right time."
TBA is employing a unique and bold distribution strategy, the company said.
"We are focused on wholesale tire distributors uniquely," Joe Anzelmo, director of sales, said. "This is a container-load direct program.
"We are searching for one dedicated wholesale tire distributor in each MSA. We want long term cooperative and profitable relationships."
Because of COVID-19 pandemic, TBA was unable to travel its sales team to conduct face-to-face visits with tire distributors.
"We have gone to strictly phone, email, video-conference and phone-conference communications," Mr. Hutchinson said. "We are not certain when travel may re-settle to a reasonable accommodation. I don't think tire distributors really want visitors right now anyway, even if we could travel.
"We've asked our team to work from home, be safe, be healthy and take care of their families first. It's no easy task to launch a new brand via emails and video conferences, but we accept the challenge and I think most everyone we have spoken with really gets it."