Your luxury and performance vehicles should ride on luxury, too, and Diko Sulahian’s WTW Corporation provides a full line of custom wheels to ensure that.
His Santa Fe Springs, Calif.-based company manufactures Giovanna, Gianelle Designs, GFG and KoKo Kuture lines, which are cast and forged wheels he released and named after his three children as they were born.
And, next month at the annual SEMA show, Nov. 1–4, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Diko will be introducing new innovative wheel designs and products for all his brands.
“Our technology and manufacturing process provide flexibility, reliability and light weight in custom wheels,” Diko says. “Our wheels fit most American and import cars, from daily drivers such as Buick, Ford Expedition and Bentley GT to specialty vehicles such as Ferrari, Lamborghini and Mercedes Sprinter vans,” he explains.
He adds that all of his wheels can be painted after manufacturing, with colors you choose by going to the company’s website, www.wtwcorp.com, and selecting “Wheel Customizers.” The KoKo Kuture wheels even allow you to change out different colored bezels.
Diko began WTW 14 years ago with his first line, Giovanna cast wheels, inspired by the birth of his first daughter. WTW also offers a Giovanna Forged wheel line.
“Two years later, we introduced Gianelle Designs, named after my second daughter,” Diko explains. These are also high-end cast wheels available in a variety of styles and options.
With the success of these first two offerings, Diko introduced his third line, GFG. These are three-piece forged modular high-end wheels custom made per the customer’s needs, in widths of 8 to 15 inches and heights of 18 to 30 inches. As with the first two lines, the GFG wheels are available in a number of models such as Mykonos, Telaviv, Medilin, Malibu, Ibiza, Messina and Fiorano.
At SEMA, he will introduce a new GFG wheel line called Supremo which is designed for high-end luxury vehicles. The Supremo is a two-piece cast wheel. “These new wheels will appeal to Bentley, Mercedes and BMW owners, allowing them to have the deep concave, 5- to 6-inch-lip wheel designs,” he says. Ready for delivery in 2012, Supremo wheels will be prebuilt and on the shelf ready to be delivered, he adds.
Another new GFG product is custom three-piece forged concave wheels, designed to accommodate the deep wheel concavity of high-end exotics. “It’s never been done before,” he says. “Unlike other forged-wheels companies, our designs and our experience allow for perfect fitments and deep concavity on the best exotics — without compromising performance,” he adds.
His fourth wheel line, KoKo Kuture, was introduced four years ago when his son was born. This is a flexible cast wheel allowing you to change colored bezels on the bead lip to your mood in an instant. These wheels are also available in various styles and, as with the other lines, you can also choose from a number of options.
In addition to his wheels, Diko and his team also build and sell Giovanna-edition vehicles. “I do those just for fun since really deep down in my heart I love cars,” he says. “But, I get tired of them quickly, so I literally go through 25 to 50 cars a year building and selling them.”
The company will bring a number of these vehicles to the SEMA Show, and all will be outfitted with WTW wheels. At his booth, he will also display the proprietary Giovanna Edition watch by Gerge Swiss timepieces, his clothing line and toy collection as well as Giovanna Bikes such as the Beach Cruiser. “We dominate SEMA each year as one of the largest and most successful exhibitors,” Diko says of the leading automotive specialty products event in the world, which this year expects more than 100,000 industry participants from 100-plus countries. “We always put on a great show with the best of the best in my booth and usually with vehicles we own versus borrowing cars from others.”
WTW has also shown cars equipped with its wheels at other major events such as the 81st International Motor Geneva Show and the Super Bowl.
His car love began in native Lebanon. His father was in the tire business, so he was always around custom cars. “After high school, realizing college was not what I wanted to do, at 18 I started a small swap meet business after borrowing $500 from my dad,” he explains. He eventually opened up multiple booths at swap meets, which resulted in a very successful retail business.
“At the onset of mail order, I was one of the first to get a Western Union machine that allowed people to wire money, and we would ship out the product to them,” he adds.
After many years of retail, he started doing a wholesale business and began importing European brands into the States. After doing that for a few years — and getting taken advantage of by some companies — he decided to begin his own business and created the Giovanna wheel to satisfy owners of many of the vehicles he is passionate about.
“Experiencing the sad way business can be conducted, I learned how terrible it feels; as a result, from the onset of my company I have always supported my dealers and have never had the urge to sell out for the bigger fish,” he says. “For us, loyalty is the key to a successful business.”
In Arizona, the full line of his WTW wheels is distributed through Wheel Specialists Inc. (480.968.1314). To find your nearest authorized retailer or car dealership in Arizona and throughout the United States, log on to the company website, www.wtwcorp.com, and click “Dealer Locator,” then choose your state.
Quality and innovation will continue to guide WTW, Diko says: “For now and into the future, we want to continue to be one of the leading wheels companies in the world and expanding into making innovative equipment for high-end vehicles. Maybe we’ll even build a Diko Car someday!”
WTW Corporation, www.wtwcorp.com for information on all wheels, a vehicle gallery with wheels, wheel customizers, official blog, media and dealer locator, or call 800.307.8708. Anyone mentioning this Highline Autos article can send Diko an introduction about himself or herself to d@WTWcorp.com and he will send a gift with additional savings opportunities for anything available from WTW through your local authorized dealer.
