It started with rugs sold from a car boot in Mt Roskill. Today Rubbertree makes 7000 floor mats a week and is eyeing Europe and the US.
Put your foot down in almost any vehicle on New Zealand’s roads – car, ute, van, truck – and chances are it’ll land on a Rubbertree floormat. Same goes for the boot liners, seat covers, sun and safe shades.
It’s the can-do company that hardly anyone’s ever heard of – one that, in typical Kiwi fashion, came from humble beginnings: a Dutch immigrant family in Mt Roskill hawking rugs out of a car boot at markets.
Launched in 2009, Rubbertree builds on parent company’s MTL manufacturing heritage, offering more than 40,000 patterns for products to fit more than 2500 vehicle makes and models. At the same time, artisans craft bespoke items for individuals to personalise and protect their vehicles.
Paul Agnew, the CEO and managing director of parent company MTL Group, outlines the rugs to riches story.
The family business, founded in 1972, evolved from selling rugs to selling bathroom coordinates through Australasian department stores, introducing the first artificial turf in both countries, and ultimately supplying automotive carpets for the likes of Suzuki, Nissan, Kia and Hyundai.
They built a reputation for what’s known in the industry as original equipment manufacture (OEM), making product for vehicle makers to sell under their own brand. By 2009 they realised their eggs were in one basket. Drawing on international contacts and observation, they created the Rubbertree brand and added more lines.
Agnew recalls how now-director Brock Mustard “would knock on a Ford dealer’s door and say, ‘Hey, you’ve got our car mats, but you don’t have a boot liner. We can do that for you.’”
Fast-forward to 2026, and the business has grown into a trusted supplier for major fleet operators.
As Agnew explains: “When Downer leases a new ute or 1000 new utes, generally they’ll have a Rubbertree bundle pack put through them. That might be floor mats, cargo liner, a safety pack, fire extinguisher and maybe seat covers, so they’re protecting their assets.”
Rubbertree is now headquartered in brand-new premises in Avondale, with plants in Sydney, Melbourne and Marcoola (Sunshine Coast). Employing 140 staff, it’s a worldwide business with its own e-commerce sites and sales through Amazon and eBay.
“The promise is the same. It’s any make, any model, but the offering is quite broad now,” says Agnew.
“From carpet to rubber mats, boot liners, sun shades, seat covers and more – our motto is: anything that can go to protect your asset, make it look better, look after it, help with your road trips, that’s the stuff we like to be able to provide.”
The cliché might be that the typical customer is a 25- to 35-year-old bloke. Agnew disagrees.
“It’s anyone who road-trips, goes on journeys, has kids – when they’re infants, they make a mess – has a pride and joy, plays sport. Pets, hobbies, fishing, surfing… tradies with their tools, they’re a big market for us.
“We’ve got products to protect your vehicle from scratches and wear and tear, and to add value by personalising your vehicle.”
Floor mats, boot liners and seat covers might be one of the last things that motorists consider when choosing a vehicle, but they are crucial to road safety, which is why ANCAP, Australasia’s independent monitoring authority, audits every Rubbertree product.
Each is a combination of computer-aided design and expert seamstresses stitching binding and brand badges using traditional sewing machines.
About 7000 car mats leave the factory every week, but none leave without a hands-on inspection. Even the little rings that hold a floor mat in place are positioned by hand.
For Agnew, that’s a point of pride and difference.
“We could just import products like a lot of people do – but we are custom manufacturers,” he said.
“A car seat cover has 28 pieces that need to be precisely stitched together, like a suit. Our patterns have to be designed to allow airbags to deploy safely.”
Rubbertree commits to the quickest and easiest turn-around for customers, whether it’s a global automotive brand, a big-box retail chain like SuperCheap Auto or a one-off motorist.
For the latter, they’re about to open retail showrooms in Avondale and Australia to give customers the opportunity to explore the range in person.
“It’s really important to get people in here to see what we do and that it’s local, it’s a Kiwi business. We’ll use drone flythroughs to follow an order from start to finish and explain how our promise is to be quick and easy to do business with.”
Like the original founders, Rubbertree is big on innovation.
“Cars have big digital screens in them now, and people get really peeved when finger marks go all over them. So we’ll put glass protectors on them, like you do with phones – we’re starting to explore these innovations.
Other additions include protective film behind door handles to help prevent scratches from rings, fingernails and everyday use.
New Zealand, Australia… the world is their boot liner.
“We’ve got relationships with ‘cousins’, ex-employees who have started a business using the original Majestic name in Canada, and we’re quite interested in trying to break into America,” says Agnew.
“We have a little bit of business there at the moment, and Europe is quite a big focus for us. The wider Asia-Pacific region is important as well – there’s still some right-hand drive markets in the Asian region that we don’t tap into yet.”
To discover how Rubbertree can spruce up your vehicle, visit rubbertree.co.nz