Joseph Abraham

Welcome to part 2 of the first in our new series about the history of automotive modification companies. If you want to read part 1 of this article, go to the link at the bottom.

Nitto Entering the Truck Market

Nitto’s success with the car market was multiplied when they started focusing on the truck market. Many truck tire sizes were not available in the market at this point. Rims were even being produced by rim companies, like AMT Forged Alloys, with no compatible tire sizes. In the late 90s and early 2000s, Nitto began partnering with many enthusiast-friendly wheel brands.

Before Nitto innovated in the 2000s, one of the greatest difficulties with large tires was balancing. In the early 2000s, Nitto made many breakthroughs with tire balancing, which made tires quieter and more durable. These innovations included thinner strips of material in the spiral wound and jointless construction.

Aesthetically, Nitto answered the market’s demand for a more aggressive-looking tire. Nitto released the Dune, Terra, Trail, and Mud Grapplers. The Mud Grappler left a signature tread mark, which was a hit with customers and enthusiasts alike. Many Nitto enthusiasts were using the tread designs in their hairstyles. People were even getting tattoos that referenced the tread designs. While the more aggressive tread was louder while driving than stock tires, it was quiet compared to competitors with comparable treads.

Nitto Today

In 2016, Nitto introduced the ridge grapplers, arguably the most exciting product they have ever released. The Ridge Grapplers offer offroad tread but were tested to be quiet and smooth. In testing, many could not tell Ridge Grapplers apart from stock tires.

In 2004, the Nitto brand was worth more than 100 million dollars. In 2018, Nitto was evaluated at 600 million dollars. Currently, Nitto is believed to be valued at over a billion dollars (estimated). Tomo Mizutani currently sits as President and CEO of Nitto. Nitto went from being close to bankruptcy to being considered the highest-quality provider on the market.

Their engagement on social media exceeds all other tire companies. They even have a larger social media following than both Honda and Toyota. While Nitto was born in Japan, Nitto is currently based in the United States. The company’s future is looking bright.

Nitto tires were even featured in the Transformers movies. They also sponsor the Dodgers baseball team. They support STEM programs for youth throughout the country.

The youth market has less interest in automobile modification than during the 90s. They will continue to focus on the United States, as they believe their customer base is strong in the USA.

Nitto in Hawaii

In Hawaii, Nitto tires stand as our top recommended tired brand at Intense Motorsports Maui. While they are not the cheapest, we record almost no returns on Nitto products, and they easily make up for the difference in price with the increase in quality. Our story is similar to Nitto’s in that our business changed when we started working with truck modification, as trucks now account for most of our revenue.

If you are nearby and want to see the tires, we have all of them at our physical location and our online store. Check it out! Aloha. Thank you for reading.

We are starting a new series about the history of automobile modification brands. Today we are going to talk about Toyo’s little brother, Nitto. This article will be split into two parts. A link to the second article will be available at the bottom of this post.

The History of Nitto

The Early Years of Nitto

Nitto arrived on the scene in 1949. Initially, Nitto mainly exported bias ply truck tires and a limited selection of standard-size car wheels. By the 1960s, Nitto was sending tires throughout the global market. Most Nitto customers were in the Middle East and the United States in the 60s. Later, Nitto hit a wall and even hit came close to bankruptcy. More on that later.

Nitto grew rapidly throughout the 60s and 70s, expanding to a California-based sales office. Toyo acquired Nitto in 1979. During the 1980s, Nitto pulled out of the Japanese market due to poor sales in Japan. They showed 6 million dollars in sales in 1992, but again very little from Japan. Most of their revenue came from the United States.

Nitto in the 90s

Tomo Mizutani, the owner of a service shop in Yokosuka, Japan, was a vehicle modification enthusiast. Toyo handpicked Tomo to either fix Nitto or bury it.

After joining Nitto, Tomo traveled to the United States to work at the Nitto US headquarters. At this point, Nitto only had three staff members. He recalls requesting less than ten dollars for a 3-ring hole puncher from Office Depot. He was denied by Toyo’s Japanese office and spent money from his pay on the hole puncher. He recalls this was his first investment since moving to the United States.

He later decided to travel to motor vehicle enthusiasts’ events throughout the United States and hear what potential customers had to say. He started by visiting automotive shops and later attended automotive events. He funded this traveling with his pay as he knew Toyo was more interested in closing down their Nitto branch than investing in his market research.

Learning the Market

He spoke to thousands of potential customers and auto enthusiasts. The most consistent request from enthusiasts was a greater selection of tire sizes. Many enthusiasts said they didn’t care about the brand as much as customizability. The interaction with customers was the turning point for the company. A Japanese company that spoke directly to customers in the United States was somewhat unheard of in the 90s.

In 1995, Tomo was invited to a garage sale in Anaheim. He met the owner of a rim manufacturing company. Since they were not competitors, they shared their market research. This contributed to why Tomo started chasing the younger and hipper auto modification market. Nitto began making products from drag racing and modified Japanese imported cars. While this was a step in the right direction, it didn’t quite give Nitto the revenue it needed.

Nitto released a comic talking about the origin and rise of the company. Check it out.

https://ourstory.nittotire.com/pdf/Nitto_Comic_Final.pdf

Nitto Close to Bankruptcy

During extensive research by Tomo and his team, they were told they had about six months left before bankruptcy with current revenue predictions. With seemingly little to lose, Nitto focused on the enthusiast-friendly products requested by automobile enthusiasts around the United States. This time Tomo wanted to enter the off-road truck market. He saw great potential.

Tomo pleaded with Toyo. He knew that there was an emerging lifted truck trend in the United States. In the late 90s, he requested 25 million to manufacture a new line of truck tires called Grapplers. He was rejected many times by Toyo. Finally, after years of pleading, he agreed that he would resign if the new truck tires weren’t sold.

Mahalo for Reading

Did Tomo end up being able to stay with Nitto, or was he replaced? Check out the next article to see How Nitto pulled through nearly going bankrupt.