Meet the company putting Georgia on the motoring map

Within the hyper-globalised context of 2024, it’s tempting to glance eastwards at the former Soviet Union and take its motoring progress for granted. But Porsches, Volvos and Toyotas didn’t just appear on the streets of Tbilisi overnight once Georgia obtained independence, someone had to put them there. And among the likely candidates, you might not have reckoned on a humble spare parts shop.

Yet almost 30 years later, that impressive feat is only the tip of a colossal iceberg of achievements for Tegeta . Establishing itself at a time when Soviet vehicles and parts dominated the country’s car market, Tegeta now makes it easy for motorists across Georgia and the South Caucasus region to own just about any type of vehicle they want, and its horizons are only broadening.

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From strength to strength

Let’s start with the basics: from its modest beginnings in 1995, Tegeta is now Georgia’s ultimate one-stop shop for everything from light vehicles and trucks to parts and even construction equipment. The company’s transformation of the region’s auto industry is nothing short of miraculous, and it has comfortably become its largest importer of foreign vehicles in the process.

It's now the official representative of Porsche, Volvo, Mazda, Toyota and Geely in Georgia, while also being engaged in commercial activities across four continents. At the same time, Tegeta is creating the kind of automobile infrastructure you rarely find in post-Soviet countries, let alone Europe. This has led to plenty of recognition and awards, including from the prestigious Groupauto International.

What’s more, its retail offering just keeps getting better. Tegeta was the first to bring the Destination Porsche concept to the region, and last year, it opened a new conceptual showroom: Volvo Retail Experience, which is modelled on the brand’s showroom in its homeland of Sweden. This year, Tegeta is also building a VRE concept service centre in Azerbaijan. As if that wasn’t enough, it recently renovated its Toyota Centre showroom, too, updating it in accordance with the Japanese manufacturer’s international guidelines.  

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Constant evolution

Tegeta’s aspiration towards development began many years ago. Back in 2008, it opened an authorised service centre for truck and lorry manufacturer MAN in its central office in Tbilisi, and to this day is fully compliant with the German brand’s standards in terms of infrastructure, occupational safety, tools and equipment. Furthermore, Tegeta has been the official dealer of the British construction behemoth JCB in Georgia and the Caucasus for almost 20 years.

The next target in Tegeta’s cross hairs is, unsurprisingly, green development. Not only does it want to put more EVs on Georgian roads, but it also wants to build the infrastructure to accommodate them. So far, it has installed around 100 of its own chargers, while its subsidiary companies – which actively import electric and hybrid vehicles into the country – all adhere to electrification standards in construction and boast workspaces equipped with solar panels.

This includes Tegeta’s new, ultra-modern, multifunctional automobile complex. Thanks in part to the financial support of USAID (the United States Agency for International Development), more than 700 solar panels are installed on the roof of the building and in the car park, generating half a megawatt of energy a year.

“We believe that a customer-tailored approach builds trust”

What drives the people behind this motoring behemoth? “We have been on the market for almost three decades, and our priority is to make it easier for customers to own a vehicle by offering a full range of automotive services,” explains Vakhtang Kacharava, Executive Director of Tegeta Holding. “At the same time, we constantly follow the changes in the world’s auto industry, introducing these developments into our daily lives and responding to our customer’s expectations with high-level services.

“Introducing global standards and fundamental changes in the region to achieve sustainable goals is an integral part of our activities. This is, first of all, the construction of service centres and showrooms built on the concepts of the future. For example, our new service centre building fully complies with energy efficiency standards and has an applicable energy efficiency certificate. The solar panels installed there generate 75% of the required energy.

“Electric chargers are in place on the territory of the building, fully responding to Tegeta’s sustainable development strategy. We believe that a customer-tailored approach builds trust and promotes long-term relationships between the company and the customer. Taking care of constant growth and development, today we are the first service hub in Transcaucasia and a reliable business partner worldwide.”

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Where big brands meet

It was at Tegeta’s new automobile complex that it hosted the ‘Tegeta X Global Brands – Partnership Beyond Borders’ event in December. Among the 2,000 guests were representatives of many of the company’s international partners, including Shell, Motul, Varta, Textar, Champion and Bridgestone.

Indeed, it’s Tegeta’s relationship with Bridgestone that best illustrates the company’s history of cooperation. Tegeta became the official dealer of the world’s leading tyre brand back in 1998, at a time when western cars were still a rarity. According to Kacharava, the partnership with Bridgestone heralded a new stage of development, with Tegeta actively positioning itself not only in Georgia, but also in the region as a whole.

So, what’s the latest? Well, Tegeta has announced a Mobil dealership in Uzbekistan, it became the official representative of MOTUL in Azerbaijan in January 2024, and it’s just supplied MAN buses to both Tbilisi and the capital of neighbouring Armenia, Yerevan. Of course, you won’t be surprised to learn there’s plenty more in the pipeline, so you’d be well advised to watch this space. 

Discover more about Tegeta’s story here