Mat Wilkinson has been appointed as commercial sales and marketing director for Continental Tyre Group, with responsibility for the UK and Republic of Ireland. 

With a career in the tyre industry which spans almost 20 years, he will be taking over from Arthur Gregg, who has moved to a new position within Continental, as integration manager for the Bandvulc business.

Wilkinson began his career in 1998 working for Michelin Tyre Plc as a truck sales manager.  During his 11 years with Michelin, he gained experience in a variety of customer facing roles, from traditional sales, project managing CRM systems through to Michelin Fleet Solutions.  

Most recently he spent six years with Bridgestone Europe based out of their European head office in Brussels.  While at Bridgestone, Wilkinson was involved in the development of medium to long term strategies for the Commercial Business Unit, providing leadership to the business development, operations and system development departments as well as responsibility for the European Solution Business.

Wilkinson said: “These are exciting times in our industry. Customers have far more sophisticated expectations than ever before, requiring solutions which offer real business value as well as data that is meaningful, manageable and actionable.  We no longer work in an industry which simply provides products, tyres are a financial asset for our customers that need to be managed not just maintained.

“One of the big draws for me in working with Continental is that tyres are just one aspect of the Group’s capabilities. As one of the world’s top automotive suppliers; Continental enjoys a holistic view of the industry and is perfectly positioned to provide customers with advanced solutions, including connectivity and intelligent mobility.”