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42 • Conti Corner Tonway Tyres consolidates, following its best trading year yet We first met Wayne Sauvage and Tony Kalis of Tonway Tyres a few years back when we visited their highly successful retreading factory in Rosslyn, which to this day, continues to enjoy a sizeable segment of the market in their respective area. On 2 March 2009, we paid a visit to their second outlet in Silverton, Pretoria (a ContiPartner store), only to discover that on that very morning, Wayne and Tony had concluded a deal with new owners, Tinus Bester and Tobie Crause to relinquish total ownership of this, their second store, in a bid to focus their full attention on their primary concern. PROMOTION
Conti Corner • 43 Tobie Crause and Tinus Bester. Says Wayne: “In these challenging economic times, we’ve chosen to consolidate our operation by focusing exclusively on our primary shop in Rosslyn.” Following a boom year in 2008 which culminated in a record-breaking turnover and good gross profit margins for Tonway, Wayne and Tony are hoping to boost their performance further during the course of this year, in spite of the gloomy economic forecasts. They’ve chosen to do this by consolidating the operation, capitalising on internal efficiencies, keeping overheads to a bare minimum and continuing with their hands-on approach to the business. Says Wayne: “I’m not just a business owner, I’m also a salesman. My immediate and most important function (aside from running the business), is to personally service my customers. That’s what I believe has been the key to our success. “Only operators who are lean in their infra-structure and who abide by strict accounting practices are likely to survive the current economic crisis,” he adds. “In this business, we see so many retail outlets running on bank balances as opposed to accurate management accounts,” says Wayne, something he personally insists on seeing by the 7th of each month. Plus, the factory produces six days a week, 24 hours a day, while the store is open Monday to Friday from 07h00-17h00 and Saturdays from 07h00-13h00. By all indications, their discipline and diligence in this regard coupled with their willingness to ‘get their hands dirty’, has reaped dividends for this independent operation which continues to receive high praise from its most formidable critic – the marketplace. Adds Tinus Bester: “Tonway Tyres Services Silverton caters to a diversified market sector. Here, we sell anything from passenger tyres to light commercial, heavy commercial and OTR tyres.” And despite the presence of no less than 13 opposition shops in the immediate area, Tinus further claims that their close association with two premium brands - Continental and Bandag - as well as their decision to specialise on the commercial sector, has worked in their favour. Add to that, their attention to detail and near-exclusive fixation with the smaller commercial operator who is less likely to incur bad debt and it appears Tonway Tyres Silverton is equally well poised to weather the storm. Concludes Wayne: “Our suppliers have played a huge role in the success of our business. Take Continental for example: Close on 80% of our new tyre sales are made up of Continental. In fact, Tonway Tyres was built on the Continental brand. To us, they’re not just our primary tyre suppliers – they are our business partners.” Strengthening existing relationships such as these, remaining ever vigilant and focused on their immediate business and refusing to fall prey to the current negative energy that is circulating courtesy of the looming recession, are the all-important elements which Wayne and Tony believe will carry them forward. We take our hats off to them! In their independent capacity, they seem to have achieved what many others with considerable resources cannot.
Page 1: Focus on the PASSENGER tyre market
Page 5 and 6: One-on-One • 3 One-on-One with Hi
Page 8: 6 • One-on-One What sort of assis
Page 13 and 14: Focus on • 11 Optimistic outlook
Page 15: Focus on • 13 partnership with ou
Page 18 and 19: 16 • Focus on the value of the ra
Page 20: 18 • Focus on Passenger tyre sale
Page 25 and 26: Focus on Excellence Awards • 23 B
Page 27 and 28: 15025
Page 30 and 31: 28 • Manufacturing Dunlop flights
Page 32 and 33: 30 • Talking Tyres by Colin Milem
Page 34 and 35: 32 • Dealer profile Speedy Witban
Page 36 and 37: 34 • New Initiative ON THE HUNT F
Page 38 and 39: 36 • Company Profile Tyrecor exte
Page 40: 38 • ProFleet ProFleet promises t
Page 46: Have a question? Send it to satread
Page 50 and 51: 48 • Competition / Subscription C
Page 52: pirelli.com P Zero the Hero: unique

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