Apollo abandons plans to build new tyre plant in Europe

By David Shaw, ERJ staff

Geneva,

Switzerland - Apollo Tyres does not intend to build a new tyre factory in Europe

in the short term. Instead, the company will expand the Vredestein plant in

Enschede, Netherlands to a total of around

10 million units/year from the current from 5.5 million units/year. The expansion

will be done in a series of steps.

Onkar S

Kanwar, head of Apollo Tyres group said the company is no longer looking for a

new site to build tyres in Europe. That may come eventually, he noted, but the

current plan over the short term is to expand the Vredestein plant, and update

the South African plant.

Meanwhile,

the company is developing a branding strategy, using the company's existing

brands, and selecting appropriate branding structures in the different geographic

markets around the world.

Once that

process is complete, the company will then decide where it needs to add

capacity to fulfil the brand development plan.

Ultimately,

said Kanwar, Apollo intends to make the tyres for the European market in the

European sphere.

He said Apollo

currently has no spare capacity and there is an excess of demand for its tyres

over its capacity, so it needs to add capacity quickly.

It is in

the process of bringing on stream a large plant in Chennai, India,

both car tyres and truck and bus radials. That plant will be sufficient

to serve the needs of the domestic market for some time to come, noted Kanwar.

in the picture above, Rob Oudshoorn (right) presents a special tyre to the Kanwar brothers, unveiled by Onkar Kanwar, to mark the new family bond between Apollo and Vredestein.