TBC Acquires Vanderbilt/Turbo-Tech Private Brand Tire Line

    MEMPHIS, Tenn.--June 5, 2001--TBC Corporation , the Memphis-based marketer of tires for the replacement market has announced the acquisition of the Vanderbilt/Turbo-Tech line of private brand tires. The Company intends to market the line as an additional brand, joining their existing private brands -- Multi-Mile, Cordovan and Sigma. These brands, along with Big O brand tires which are sold through the Company's Big O franchised retail store system, represent 7.5% of the country's passenger tire replacement market, and 10.5% of the light truck market, according to the annual survey of Modern Tire Dealer magazine.
    Vanderbilt/Turbo-Tech will be marketed as a full-fledged TBC brand, designed for the independent dealer. It offers the same benefits as other TBC brands -- broad selection of proprietary products, superior fill rates, brand-building merchandising support, and exclusive marketing territories.
    Ken Dick, Executive Vice-President of Sales for TBC's Private Brands Division, commented, "As the marketplace evolves, the independent tire dealers need a strong, complete, exclusive private label on which to focus their businesses and build overall sales margins. Vanderbilt/Turbo-Tech supports this strategy by providing a unique product lineup, without affecting the exclusivity that is so important to our Multi-Mile, Cordovan and Sigma customers' success."
    The line will consist of fourteen offerings in the passenger, metric, performance and light truck categories. It can be augmented by TBC's broad array of neutral lines for niche marketing and, according to Dick, will comprise everything a tire dealer needs in a private brand lineup.
    TBC Corporation is one of the nation's largest marketers of automotive replacement tires through a multi-channel marketing strategy. The Company's retail operations include company-owned retail centers under the Tire Kingdom brand and franchised retail stores under the Big O Tires brand. TBC also markets wholesale to customers who operate more than 200 regional distribution centers serving independent tire dealers throughout the United States and in Canada and Mexico.