According to company officials a new 35,000-square-foot facility will come on stream to add to the current 100,000-square-foot of space at the Compass’ Huddersfield base. In addition, a number of extra sales and logistics staff are due to be recruited.

Tim Chesney, managing director of the Compass Group told Tyres & Accessories that the expansion of storage space is directly attributable to the ongoing success story of GT in the U.K. The company launched GT into Europe almost 20 years ago when it imported the first ever containers of the then fledgling car tyre brand with just seven sizes in the radial range.

Today the GT Radial car tyre brand has many hundreds of sizes in its range, covering almost every popular size in car, van and 4X4 and it is a market leader in the mid range sector of the market with its development of UHP and other cutting edge tyre designs. Sales into the new car tyre replacement market have increased year-on-year and today, through Compass Group, GT produced tyre brands boast a market share in the UK that leads the market outside the premium sector.

According to Chesney, the successes witnessed in the car tyre arena over the past two decades have been mirrored in the truck tyre sector. The GT Radial truck tyre range is handled exclusively in the U.K. and Ireland by the Compass Group, and although the brand may be a relative newcomer to the market, having only been launched by Compass in the U.K. five years ago, sales have reportedly grown exponentially.

Chesney describes the GT Radial truck tyre brand as “a considerable force in the mid range of the U.K. truck tyre replacement market” and explains that “careful, well-controlled distribution by the Compass Group, combined with a realistic approach to pricing and effective marketing, has catapulted the GT Radial truck tyre range to the top of the mid range sector in very short order.”

“The sales increases in the truck tyre range and the introduction of so many new sizes has given impetus to the expansion in our warehousing facilities,” he commented adding: “This will allow the Company to hold in excess of 10,000 GT Radial truck tyres in stock at any one time and continue to provide a first rate national distribution service to our customers using our own fleet of vehicles.”

Chesney concluded: “GT Radial is a brand with enormous appeal in the industry, being trusted by the trade and end users alike, and we have enormous confidence in the future. We work very closely with the Giti/GT factories in China and Indonesia to ensure that the correct tyre sizes come on stream at the right time and at the right price. It is a close relationship built on mutual respect and trust that goes back over two decades and it has underpinned GT’s success in the U.K. We are the longest established and largest distributor of GT produced tyres in Europe and our continuing investment in logistics, sales and distribution is testament to our belief in the brand.”

Compass Group opened its GT Radial national distribution centre in October 2005. Then the original 100,000 square foot warehouse and office complex held over 120,000 GT Radial car and truck tyres at any given time.

This article appeared in the January 2007 edition of Tire Review.