Apollo to bring truck radial capacity on stream in October

Baroda, Gujarat - Apollo Tyres is adding truck and bus capacity at its radial tyre plant in Baroda City, Gujarat State, India. The company expects to bring the line on stream in October and commercialise the new tyres a year from now. The line is expected to have capacity for 400 units per day intially and to generate around Rs 4000 million (Euro 73 million) in extra revenue each year.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the occasion, Neeraj R S Kanwar, coo of Apollo Tyres Ltd, said, ”We already have the best radial products in passenger car, farm and light truck. The only segment remaining is the heavier commercial vehicles. In a year's time, this gap in our arsenal will be filled to ensure our truck and bus customers who wish to switch to radial tyres can depend on us for this

product also.”

Kanwar, speaking at the plant in the Limda suburb of Baroda, said that the Indian truck tyre market is currently 98 percent cross-ply, adding, "Even though the market segment is still very small, we feel Apollo needs to be present in this segment to retain its leadership position across all categories.” In summer 2005, Michelin pulled out of a joint venture with Apollo to make radial truck and bus tyres, citing the slow transition to radials in India as the reason.

A statement from Apollo said, "In the past year-and-a-half, Apollo has invested nearly Rs 400 crores (Euro 70 million) in its various radial projects. Another Rs 40 crores (Euro 7 million) of investment is expected to take place in the truck and bus radial project in Limda. This plant already produces India's first range of H-rated passenger car tyres, the Apollo Acelere, in its state-of-the-art exclusive radial unit. Limda came into operation in 1991 with an initial production capacity of 70 tonnes a day, which has risen to over 300 tonnes a day. The range of products manufactured here includes passenger car radials, truck cross-ply, light truck and farm radial and cross-ply tyres.

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