Border Tire acquires Calif. Michelin/MRT dealer Canyon Tire

EL PASO, Texas — Commercial tire dealership/retreader Border Tire has acquired Canyon Tire sales, a Corona, Calif.-based dealership with five commercial outlets and a retread plant in southern California.

The deal, which closed Dec. 1, doubles Border Tire's presence in California and adds up to $45 million in potential annual sales to it ledger. Canyon Tire is a 40-year-old dealership that's part of the Michelin Commercial Service Network Dealer sales and MRT retreading networks.

"It has always been our goal to grow and make strategic acquisitions that expand our service footprint to our loyal customer base," Border Tire Vice President David Shipp said.

"The synergy of the two companies coming together will greatly enhance our full-service capabilities. Border Tire will become the largest servicing MRT dealer in the state of California and one of the largest commercial dealers in Southern California."

Financial terms were not disclosed.

The deal to buy Canyon Tire comes two years after Border Tire's acquisition of five TCi Tire Centers commercial service locations and one MRT retread plant in California from Michelin North America Inc.

El Paso-based Border Tire is a division of Border International, a new and pre-owned truck dealer with bases in Las Cruces and EL Paso. It is active in commercial truck tire sales and service, truck tire retreading and agricultural, earthmover and industrial tire sales and service.

Canyon Tire — founded in 1990 by the Leinen family — operates truck tire sales/service locations in Corona (two locations), Fontana, Southgate and San Diego. The MRT plant has a capacity to build 112,000 retreads a year with space to expand, according to information on Canyon Tire's website. Employment stands at about 140.

The business began in 1979 as Gail Materials, a sand- and gravel-hauling company. Canyon Tire Sales was established in 1990 by Mitch and Nick Leinen.

The dealership lists Michelin, BFG, Uniroyal, Camso, Continental, General, Falken and Yokohama among the brands it carries.

Border Tire, a Michelin dealer and Oliver rubber-affiliated retreader, has five commercial locations in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, plus the former TCi commercial sales/service locations in Bakersfield, Van Nuys, Fontana, Santa Fe Springs and Lakeside, Calif., and the MRT plant in Fontana.

Based on the firm's 2019 sales of $67.7 million, Border Tire is considered the 28th largest independent commercial tire dealership in North America, based on Tire Business calculations.