TGI is not your average tire maker, and Tony Gonzalez is not your average CEO. The family-owned company’s charismatic boss speaks exclusively to TTI
By GRAHAM HEEPS
With three generations of his family having made their mark in the tire business, Tony Gonzalez can legitimately claim to have tires “in the blood.” The CEO of Miami-based Tire Group International (TGI) – a leading tire distributor, and the manufacturer of brands including Cosmo Tires – has known nothing else. His brother, Joaquin Jr, serves as company president, and their late father was already following in the footsteps of his Cuban family when he began to establish tire businesses in Florida in the 1970s (see Family affair, p23).
“As far back as I can remember, I remember tires,” says Tony Gonzalez. “I remember when my father didn’t have the space to keep tires in the shops, so we had hundreds in our backyard under tarps. It was the 1970s and crime wasn’t what it is today!”
TGI is not a conventional tire maker, acting also as a distributor for more than 20 brands, including Yokohama and Falken. The CEO, too, breaks the mold: Gonzalez is also a movie producer and a talented, self-taught, amateur artist who regularly sketches the eye-catching sidewall designs and tread patterns for his company’s products, such as the recently introduced Mud Kicker X all-terrain.
