Corven, which owns 33% of the motorcycle market, now competes with the three tire factories

Leandro Iraola He is just over 50 years old and has been managing the Corven shock absorber factory, inherited from his father, for more than 30 years. Ismael Iraola, agricultural producer from Venado Tuerto, founded the company in 1969 together with a partner from Córdoba (hence the name) and died prematurely in 1993. Leandro was 20 years old and the advice he received, in years of full openness to imports, it was to get rid of the factory. He didn’t pay attention.

“They told me we were producing 3,000 shock absorbers a month against Fric Rot’s 200,000 and Del Fabro’s 150,000. That we were not dedicated to this business. I was 20 years old and said I would continue. Thirty years passed and Today we produce 170,000 shock absorbers per month“We export to 35 countries and we are number one on the market,” Iraola told La Rural last week. He was at the Corven stand at the Automechanika fair, raising his glass to the company’s 55th anniversary.

In these three decades Iraola has consolidated itself as a manufacturer of car spare parts and also as importer and assembler of motorcycles, an activity that began in 2008 with the small motorcycles of the Corven brand. That almost timid beginning today contrasts with a gigantic motorcycle assembly plant, also in Venado Tuerto.

“We are leaders in the motorcycle market with a 33% share, with brands such as Mondial, Corven, Triumph, Kawasaki, Kymco, several brands that have given us 33% of the Argentine market. “This is a source of pride because we started working in 2008 and managed to be number one in Argentina above all competitors.”

Extroverted, Iraola has now announced that he will compete with the country’s three big tire brands, the multinationals Pirelli and Bridgestone and the national one Destiny. I started importing from China car tires sold under the Corven and Dunlop brandsand assured that “at a future stage” the national production of motorcycle covers will begin.

“For this launch of Coven Tires we chose the number one factory in China, which produces original equipment for Audi, BMW and all top brands. Our quality control team in China made us choose the best tire on the market, superior to those produced here in the country with our Corven brand,” said Iraola. “The Corven Neumáticos brand will not only be marketed in Argentina, but throughout Latin America, exporting from China.”

The motorcycle market in Argentina is stagnant due to lack of credit, with 470,000 units sold in 2023 (practically the same figure as 0 km cars, when the norm until a few years ago was it would sell almost double). So far this year the decline is even worse, with a drop of almost 28% compared to the first quarter of 2023.

Most motorcycles come from China or India, with some parts local, and the job of local factories is assembly. Local law requires minimum integration (less than 15%) and now Iraola is focusing on what he has defined as the “synergy” between tyres, car and motorcycle spare parts.

“The tire sector has many synergies with the auto parts sector. I say this both to my sales team and to many customers present here,” the entrepreneur said during the toast. “Open your mind to look for synergies between starting a motorcycle business, starting a roofing business, starting a tire shop.”

-Is this a good time to open new businesses? Car and motorcycle sales are declining -churches Clarion in Iraola.

-I think we will improve in the second semester. At least 10 billion dollars will come from the harvest and the government is trying to obtain another 15 billion dollars on the markets.

Iraola knows him in the field as a producer. He once said that when the factory numbers don’t work for him “sometimes we take it from field business to industry and sometimes it’s the opposite.”

-Car factories are slowing down production due to the declining market. You?

-We have good expectations. Some time ago I said that in 1993 we were 30 people and now we are 1,300.