Hoosier: Racing Globally

Hoosier Racing Tire (HRT), the US brand with the vast majority of its racing activities occurring in North America, is now part of the continental Group. continental Tire Americas, subsidiary of the continental group, acquired the company in late 2016.The Lakeville based Hoosier, which also has a location in Plymouth, is now well set in lane to strengthen its position in the racing tyre segment, John De Salle, President, told Tyre Asia in an exclusive interview.

- John De Salle

“Even though HRT sells racing tyres to 80 countries, we had never considered it a global business. In 2016 HRT opened its first company owned sales office outside of the US in cologne, Germany, with warehousing located near the famous Nurburgring race track. The acquisition by continental will truly help HRT become a global motorsport tyre company by providing the technical and marketing assistance needed, De Salle said.

“It is our goal to significantly grow HRT’s involvement in motor sport activities globally using multiple tyre brands. currently we manufacture nearly 1400 different types of race tyres and with continental’s market presence, we intend to significantly grow our business in the APAC and EMEA regions,” he added.

Hoosier is driven by what the racing series demands, De Salle says. “We believe it is our role to design, test, manufacture and distribute race tyre products that meet the requirements set forth by each racing series. each motorsport series is an unique business that may desire different tyre performance characteristics that helps them achieve their business model. Some series want very high performing products and costs are not an issue but the number of those business models are dwindling. Other series may want race tyres with reasonable performance parameters along with very good durability to minimise the tyre consumption costs. We like to say ‘before we design we listen’ to what the customer wants and at Hoosier we have the ability to design and manufacture to the customer’s needs. It is always our goal to become a true tyre partner to the series, and not just a tyre supplier.”