Apollo Tyres Set Conquer New Horizons

The Chinese import of tyres is at its peak, soaring rubber prices are leading to shrink in the margins of the tyre makers, however, all these factors are not disrupting Apollo Tyres from chalking out its future-focused aggressive plans. The prominent tyre manufacturer, with its sound investments in the Research & Development (R&D) division and branding, devices to achieve top positions in the commercial vehicle, passenger vehicle and tractor segments in the next four years.

The determined vision of the company is to create leadership in terms of technology, brand and people. Although it has not revealed the market share percentage or revenue numbers they want to attain, however, it plans to increase shares across all the segments. In the commercial vehicle category, Apollo Tyres at present has 27 percent market share and plans to stretch it to 32-33 percent in order to dominate the segment. Moreover, in the passenger vehicle space, the company secures huge experience in India and abroad, especially Europe. The home-grown tyre major has the largest capacity for manufacturing passenger car radial tyres in India and is also the prime exporters of these tyres. Apollo strives to emerge as a brand across the globe and its latest association with Manchester United Football Club is a testimony of the same.

To facilitate its vision, the tyre firm is set to invest a huge sum of INR 2700 cr at its Chennai manufacturing facility, which will help it double the existing Truck and Bus Radials (TBRs) capacity of 6000 units/day to 12000 units/day. The commercial vehicle space has just witnessed the launch of three new products for the CV segment.

The rising farm mechanisation in Europe offers a huge opportunity to Apollo Tyres to establish their Vredestein brand, which has an expertise of over 100 years in the tractor tyres segment in Europe. The Netherlands-based Vredestein Banden B.V. (VBBV) brand was acquired by Apollo in the year 2009.