ATS Euromaster charts “dynamic” course after network overhaul

Three months on from a dramatic reduction in its network and its headcount, ATS Euromaster is planning a more dynamic approach to meet customer demand.

Nick Harley, managing director of both ATS Euromaster and its heavy commercial vehicle offering, Tructyre, has a long career in the industry.

He spent five years running Goodyear’s original equipment business in Europe, before being appointed MD of Tructyre five-and-a-half years ago – a year after it was bought by Michelin in 2018.  

ATS Euromaster was established in 1965 after Michelin bought a number of small independent garages to form Associated Tyre Specialists.

In 1974, it extended its network by buying 70 centres of the tyre brand Uniroyal.

Euromaster was trademarked in 1991 and, with ATS joining the network, it became ATS Euromaster in the UK. 

Management of the Tructyre and ATS Euromaster businesses in the UK were combined in 2022, with Harley taking the helm of both.

Harley explains: “I’ve spent the last two-and-a-half years reviewing how we can streamline our operations and make sure that we’re consolidating all of the non-customer facing elements.

“The intention has been to continue to operate with two brands, Tructyre and ATS Euromaster, continue with the mobile business in truck and look at how we need to operate in a very challenging and dynamic market.”

Back-office functions have been merged, and the size of the leadership team reduced, while examples of best practice have been shared between businesses.

Tructyre’s apprenticeship scheme, for example, has been embraced by ATS Euromaster. “We’ve been very successful in reducing the unplanned turnover in Tructyre (though our apprenticeship scheme) and we started to do that in ATS, bringing apprenticeships, not just in the technicians’ area, but also in in our back office, like our customer service teams,” says Harley.

Network closures and job losses

As part of its review of operations, Fleet News reported in February that ATS Euromaster had earmarked 86 service centres for possible closure.

All 86 service centres ceased trading in March, with 248 employees made redundant, leaving a network of 152 centres.

Almost three-quarters (70%) of impacted employees had secured alternative work during the consultation period, according to ATS Euromaster.

Harley says that more than 80% of the former employees have now found another job, with many of the others either deciding to retire early or go self-employed.

“I am delighted that we have a situation where virtually everybody has found another role where they wanted to, because that was our main concern,” he adds

“We’re an organisation which really prides ourselves on doing the right thing for our people and closing 86 points of sale is a big decision to take, and I’ve been very pleased by the fact we’ve been able to manage that.”

Harley explained that its decision to restructure the business was down to overcapacity, increasing costs and sluggish growth.

“I don’t think we’ve been dynamic enough… we just need to accelerate that dynamism, because the market is very dynamic,” Nick Harley, ATS Euromaster and Tructyre

A predicted increase in replacement tyres with the growth in electric vehicles (EVs) did not materialise. However, demand from its core market remains, which is split into two areas – leasing/B2B and its retail customers who use ATS Euromaster for replacement tyres, MOTs and annual services.

Harley explains: “What we were seeing was that we had a core of points of sale which were not contributing to the overall business from a financial viewpoint.

“(It was) nothing to do with the individuals who were working in those points of sale. It just was that we had a network which was pretty static for a very long time.

“The way that we needed to move forward was to react to the economic conditions, and to react to what we were seeing as the changes in the demand of our customer base.”

So, does that mean its existing network could be cut again? “We’re going to review those (centres), as we should be reviewing every single one of them every quarter, every six months,” he says.

“The very best retail networks do change. They close and open, and they look at where the demand is and is that particular location in that town, the right location.”

That may mean moving a centre from one side of city to the other, which Harley admits is not something ATS has done in the past.

He adds: “I don’t think we’ve been dynamic enough… we just need to accelerate that dynamism, because the market is very dynamic.”

Growing its mobile technician fleet

When news of a possible reduction in its network broke in February, ATS Euromaster explained the changes would enable the business to concentrate its efforts on “strategic levels for sustainable development”, including its mobile service capabilities and the introduction of a franchise model, which has already been successfully developed in several countries.

It had previously announced it was scaling up its mobile offering, opening up the service to retail customers for the first time.

With more than 125 mobile technicians already deployed across England, Scotland and Wales, it intends to continue to grow its technician fleet, but Harley wouldn’t be drawn on numbers, instead saying they would react to where the demand was.

He explains customers want flexibility, with tyres changed at work or at home – they do not want to be sat in a fast-fit reception for 45 minutes.

“We see the shift and talking to our major customers, which we did before we made these fundamental changes, there was a huge amount of support,” he says.

“There’s a huge amount of trust in in the ATS brand, and we wanted to protect that (customer) loyalty.”

With the closure of so many centres, more than a third of its network, Harley acknowledges that some customers would simply “go around the corner” to a competitor if it was more convenient.

But, he says, many of its customers were happy to choose its mobile option, and a lot of the B2B business, where it was for SMR (service, maintenance and repair), were content to take their vehicles to the next centre, particularly where they may have two points of sale in a town or city.

Tructyre is a mobile-only tyre service for trucks, trailers, buses and coaches, with more than 300 technicians, operating out of 42 depots, giving nationwide coverage for heavy commercial fleets.    

Highlighting the preventive tyre maintenance role Tructyre plays, Harley says: “We don’t want our customers to be suffering from roadside tyre breakdowns. Our role is to make sure that doesn't happen.”

The same “de-risk” approach is being taken with ATS Euromaster’s mobile technicians. “We have a duty of care to our customers,” he explains.

In the past, the mobile services would have involved a couple of tyres being changed and the others checked. Now, Harley says the mobile service will be more comprehensive with any further work referred back to the nearest centre.

Franchise model ‘part’ of future strategy

Euromaster is present in 18 countries in mainland Europe – Germany, Austria, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey – thanks to its own subsidiaries and a large number of franchisees, which equates to around 60% of its network.

That’s not the case in the UK and Harley stresses ATS Euromaster is not intent on rapidly growing their network with a franchisee approach.

“That’s not the way that we see this developing,” he says. “France, Germany, those big markets which compare to the UK in terms of the size, are a mixture (of franchisee and their own network).

“We are building what we think our offer is going to look like in the UK – very much based on what worked well in Europe.”

With a score of 4.8 on Trust Pilot, Harley highlights what franchisees want is a well-known, well-trusted brand. “We see the opportunity with franchise, and we also see that the brand is attractive to franchisees,” he says.

He does not expect to be testing anything until the beginning of 2026, noting it is “hugely important” for the business to select the right partners.

“The first franchisee has got to then become our advocate,” he adds.

Delivering “outstanding” customer care

Looking forward, Harley says that he wants a long-term relationship with its customers, be those B2B or retail, based on trust.

“We do have a real track record of people trusting us and believing us to be honest,” he explains. “It’s around expertise. It’s being able to deliver within our areas of expertise and be very clear about what those areas of expertise are.”

That’s why, he says, its mobile business will focus on tyres, with anything additional provided through that service based on what ATS can deliver, while maintaining “outstanding customer care”.

Harley also believes it is essential for ATS to ensure it is easy to do business with. “We are actually available when you need us,” he says.