Apollo building retread franchise network

Gurgaon, India — Apollo Tyres Ltd. is launching a retreading franchise initiative in India, with plans to open up to 20 “Apollo Retread Zone” plants there during the current fiscal year.

Apollo did not disclose its budgeted investment nor sales expectations for the initiative, which it launched last year with the opening of retread plants in Jaipur and Chennai. The third Apollo Retread Zone, in Mumbai, opened recently to service customers in western India.

Apollo said the objective of the initiative is to provide quality retreading service to truck-bus customers and fleet owners. As such these branded outlets are equipped with advanced retreading equipment, high quality tread material and trained workers.

Apollo did not say whether the plants use a mould-cure or precure process, nor did it identify which brand equipment it’s specifying.

Apollo’s Rajesh Dahiya, group head of sales for the APMEA (Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa), region, cuts a ribbon at the company’s inauguration of its Apollo Retread Zone in Mumbai.

Satish Sharma, president, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa for Apollo, said the increase in usage of radial tires in the truck-bus segment has increased the potential for retreading, and thereby the need for quality retreading outlets to service customers.

Radial truck/bus tires are capable of multiple retreads due to the strong carcass, Apollo said, with each retread costing only 25 to 27 percent of the cost of a new tire while providing nearly 90 percent of the mileage of a new tire.

Sharma said the tire maker is “committed to providing a 360-degree solution to our customers, which very much includes retreading as well, to enhance the tire life of the end-user.”

The targeted size of an ARZ retread plant is 3,000 square feet, Apollo said, with a capacity of 20 to 25 tires a day and eight to 10 employees.

In addition to providing infrastructural support for these retreading outlets, Apollo Tyres also trains the employees of the ARZ franchisees at its state-of-the-art Retread Research and Training Centre in Chennai, India.