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INTERVIEW
Giti’s Rebranding Opens up Continuous Improvement Culture
A few months have passed since the 2017 CV Show at the NEC in Birmingham, where Giti Tire’s Europe-wide rebranding exercise was brought into full focus in the UK for the first time. Now that the CV Show
company has over 300 OE contracts in China alone.
To resolve this, Giti decided to undergo an alignment of its truck and bus operation. The main objective of this mission was to match-up the branding
Richard Hutchins, Giti’s Regional Market Intelligence & Product Planning Manager Commercial Tyres – Europe.
dust has settled, Commercial Tyre Business thought it was a prime opportunity to catch up with the company to hear about the progress of their rebranding project, as well as any other interesting news they had to report to the market.
Firstly, let’s take a trip back to before the rebranding exercise began, to when Giti Tire had two well-established brands in two different parts of the world, but were having difficulty communicating to the market the fact that, despite each brand being designed for its own region, there was a high degree of synergy between them. These two brands were GT Radial, which will be well recognised by readers of Commercial Tyre Business with it being employed in EU territories, and secondly the Giti truck and bus brand, which was well established and respected in Asia. This can be seen by the fact that today the
from Asia to that in the EU in order to create a global synergy, where the Giti truck and bus brand is the same in every corner of the world. Richard Hutchins, Giti’s Regional
Market Intelligence & Product Planning Manager Commercial Tyres - Europe expanded; “one of the major obstacles we faced as a company was that research and development was duplicated, meaning we had two different development programmes and departments for two different brands. Bringing the branding under one umbrella allows for a more streamlined and efficient approach.”
The next stage was handling the transition between the two brands. Hutchins explained to Commercial Tyre Business that their approach was to look at successful ranges from both markets and bring them across to either Asia or the EU, whilst
improving and or adapting them to suit the local market needs and requirements to ensure
ever y offering was fit for purpose. All things considered, Giti Tire is expecting to have the branding operation complete by the end of the year, due to their flat and lean organisation. Hutchins adds; “Ever ything went through a reassessment process, which made sense to see what could be improved. For instance, we looked at our Asian products to see what could fit certain EU niches, before getting them tested and bringing them to market. In essence, the transition has covered the transfer of existing products, new products and the re- certification of Asian products, in some cases also instigating
by the end of July, pending certification. It has also resulted in a plethora of new products and adaptations for the tyre press to write about. The first changes relate to the Combi- Road range, a portfolio intended to give flexibility in several applications, whilst combining regional haul and long-haul benefits. Subsequently, there have been a few tweaks to comply with EU regulations and customer needs. Specifically, though, the GSR259 needed to deliver extra load on the front axle, and the GDR655 now comes in three sizes with 3PMSF certification for winter operations. Regarding the Long- Haul portfolio, which contains five products, the biggest change concerns the GTL919. The
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necessary changes to meet EU regulations and to satisfy operator requirements.”
This transition has resulted in Giti Tire having 77 products now in the EU Catalogue with another seven being implement
GTL919, available in eight sizes, now has an increased load capacity for low-loader trailers. The range also boasts the GDL617, which was brought straight across from GT Radial due to its success. Similarly, a