The new Boss: Interview with Marco Caribotti
After several years as head of "Racing & Development" Marco Caribotti moved up to be the new General Manager of 'Goldentyre' in December 2014. In this IG.G-Interview Caribotti speaks out on his most urgent plans and on the direction in which he wants to develop the Italian brand.
IG.G: Marco Caribotti, how were your first 50 days as boss of Goldentyre?
Marco Caribotti: Surprisingly different! I've been with Goldentyre for a long time. But I have the impression that in all my years with 'Racing & Development' I've never found myself sitting at a desk quite as much as I have in these first few weeks as the person in charge of everything. But I was learning to deal with my new role. I am getting organized, and I’m happy that soon I’ll have more time to ride and test again. In future, Goldentyre customers can rest assured that the product will have been personally tested and approved by the boss (he laughs). Seriously though, in my opinion this is one of the very special qualities that Goldentyre has. We are still a very small group of enthusiasts and we follow a new design all the way through from concept to development to production. At Goldentyre we put a lot of 'passion' into our work.
IG.G: What‘s at the top of your to-do list?
Marco Caribotti: We have reorganized some areas of the company. Simply because we have to adapt our structure to the great success we’ve been having on the market! The Goldentyre brand has grown extremely rapidly in recent years. But as I said, we are still rather a small company. We cannot waste energy, money or resources. That's why we constantly question what we do and set ourselves challenges. At the same time we want to win. On the track and on the market. A lot like football really: you have to adjust to the tactical set-up of opposing teams and the challenges they present. Anyone holding on too rigidly to a system stands to lose in the long run.
IG.G: Let’s stay with the football analogy: your sales subsidiary, GWS, has left the field…
Marco Caribotti: Then let me continue using the football metaphor too. GWS has been a major team player. However, it has become increasingly clear of late that our game has changed. GWS does not, for some reason, fit in with our system.
IG.G: What is your system?
Marco Caribotti: Pressing – that’s what you can call it! For me Goldentyre is the brand best able to bring innovations from the racing world straight to the end customer. We work with our riders to continuously improve our product. And when we see something new on a prototype that works better, then it gets put into production very quickly. We want the exact same materials used by top riders to be made available to our customers. We intend to become even faster. That's why we’ve reorganized our distribution network. We are setting up a clear and simple structure, with only a handful of importers worldwide whom we can trust and have faith in. There will be a 'Goldentyre Center' in each market, to supply, advise and support local ‘Goldentyre Retails'. The main, new 'Goldentyre Centers' for Europe are now "Mandelli spa" in Italy and "Dragon International" in Romania. We will soon be able to put a list of our worldwide importers and distributors on our website. We can only make the list official when all contracts have been signed.
IG.G: Let’s take a look at the race track. Goldentyre is considered the dominant tire in Hard and Extreme Enduro, and it is also involved in many other categories. Is this how you mean to continue?
Marco Caribotti: Yes. See how extensive our product range is and look at the categories we’re involved in. The race track is the best test track for us. We’ll be continuing our collaboration in the Extreme-Enduro category with the KTM and Husqvarna factory team. This means the world's best Extreme riders are with Goldentyre. Feedback from people like Graham Jarvis, Alfredo Gomez and Jonny Walker is also very useful for those who enjoy motorcycling as a hobby and they represent the vast majority of our customers. The Gas Gas factory team also use Goldentyre. For the Motocross World Championship we are keeping our collaboration with Steve Turner’s "Wilvo Forkrent KTM" team, with two great riders, Jake Nicholls and Steven Frossard. I’m expecting a lot, in particular, from our deal with the "KTM MX Junior Team", managed by 10 times world champion Stefan Everts. For us this is a project geared to the future! We will continue to be active in Speedway, where Junior, European and World champions all won their titles using Goldentyre tires, and we will also continue investing in Trials. We’ll alsio be continuing with Flat Track in the US – where we have a great partnership with Chris Carr. A not so spectacular, but important pillar of our business is tire-production for "normal" street bikes off the racetrack. Here it all comes down to durability and reliability, and I am very proud that big names such as Moto Guzzi, Piaggio, Gas Gas, Beta and Fantic Motor all use Goldentyre. (interview: www.ig-gatsch.at)