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NOTHING BEATS TERRA GRAPPLERS FOR BOB JANE ASPLEY
With more than 40-years’ experience in the tyre industry and a background in motorsport, Keith Jesson knows a thing or two about tyres and the cars they’re fitted to, that’s why we took notice when he started raving about Nitto!
“I’ve been a petrol head since I was a kid,” begins Keith Jesson, owner of Bob Jane T-Marts Aspley. “In 1968, I couldn’t afford to enter the London-Sydney Marathon but decided that it was a good way to get to Australia, so I followed the route in a 1955 oval window Volkswagen Beetle. I landed in Brisbane, hitch-hiked to Melbourne and heard about Bob Jane through motor racing, so I went to work for him part-time. I volunteered for his racing division, earned myself a full-time job and ended up being his marketing manager before buying my own T-Mart in Chermside that I had for 35-years before building the all-new location down here at Aspley.”
“I go back to about 1970 with Bob Jane Senior and when Nitto entered the business, we embraced it instantly,” Keith continues. “If a new product comes out, we try it, and we absolutely loved the Nitto products from day 1. I’ve had every LandCruiser since 1984 along with Pajeros and Land Rovers and have driven on every tyre you could imagine, with the Terra Grappler standing above the lot as the nicest all-terrain tyre I’ve ever driven on. I drive very quickly, always have, wet or dry, and I want a tyre that gives me confidence, which the Terra Grappler does through great turn-in and grip while being super smooth and quiet on the highway.”
“I’m not going to sell a tyre I don’t like, even if I’m going to make a lot of money on it,” states Keith matter-of-factly. “The market has moved toward 4WDs, so that’s where we are focused and we’ve made ourselves a destination, stocking a HUGE range of 4x4 wheels. Having our own vehicles fitted with our products parked out front brings people in for a chat and is a great closer for us, giving the ability to take them for a drive and build trust. We give our customers a 30 day trial and we haven’t had anyone dropping Nittos back, so all of the reports we’re hearing are that they love them.”
“From a business perspective, the Nittos just make sense,” adds Keith. “I won’t mention the brand but I just spent 2-hours fixing a balance problem with another well-known product and I don’t even want to think how many other customers I could have served in that time! With the Nittos, we just never have balance issues or unhappy customers. The manufacturing quality is sensational, especially the Trail Grappler M/T; I’ve never seen a mud tyre take so little weight! We put Nittos on all day long and even the local car dealerships love them now, calling up and asking for a price on a X wheels with Y Nittos where before they’d just ask for a set of all-terrains.”
“We are the only Isuzu dealer in Queensland and in the last few years, we expanded from trucks to include the D-MAX and MU-X,” say Josh from Brisbane Isuzu, one of the many car dealerships that Keith supplies. “People are definitely looking for something different and we can offer that with a 20-inch wheel and tyre packed bolted directly on to their brand new vehicles. It’s important that we maintain factory functionality and reliability but the Nittos definitely give us that and look good doing it.”
“We prefer them over anything else because they’re good value and I actually like them so much that I’ve had 265/50R20 Terra Grapplers on 2 of my own D-MAXs,” Josh exclaims. “I recommended that my brother-in-law put them on his as well and he got 80,000km out of his first set, so he was absolutely rapt with them! Having something that looks aggressive but handles well and keeps the road noise down is a great point of difference for us that draws people in who’re looking for a new car to head up the beach and that sort of stuff.”
Are you fanatical about Nittos too? Get in touch, we'd love to hear your story!