Since beginning of May 2026, Pradeep Karat has been the new Sales Director OTR for the Middle East Africa (MEA) region. In this role, Karat is responsible for the strategy and sales of the Specialty Tyres division in the Middle East and Africa and reports to Jeffrey Hughes, Director EMEA. He will work closely with the respective product and marketing teams with the aim of establishing Linglong Tire as one of the leading specialty tyre suppliers in the market, finding new strategic partnerships, generating business growth and entering new regions.
Karat comes from Hankook Tire Middle East Africa, where he most recently worked successfully as Senior Manager Truck Tyres Sales. In total, Karat gained over 30 years of experience in various management positions in sales and marketing at premium tyre manufacturers such as Bridgestone, Goodyear and Continental. Karat brings extensive knowledge on the industrial, commercial and customer side and has been extremely successful in the competitive markets of the MEA region over the past decades.
“I am very pleased to be part of the Linglong team with immediate effect and to start as Linglong Sales Director Middle East Africa. I will do everything I can to use my experience and expertise to successfully advance Linglong in the MEA region,” said the new Director Specialty Tyres MEA at Linglong Tire.
Pradeep Karat has a master’s degree in marketing and economics and speaks Arabic, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam in addition to English. He will be based in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
Jeff Hughes, Director OTR EMEA: “I have worked with Pradeep in the Middle East in the past and am very pleased that he is now joining Linglong to help us continue to grow our off-highway business. He brings extensive knowledge of the region, knows how to find new distributors and build strong partnerships. Pradeep will seek to expand Linglong’s presence in India as well as in key African markets. He will work closely with Sherif Degheidy, who joined us in February and is already very successful in the market – together Pradeep and Sherif will be a great and professional team that will successfully develop the Linglong brand in the OTR segment in the MEA region.”
