Apollo Tyres establishes a global R&D structure

ERJ staff report (LMH)

Gurgaon, India -- Apollo Tyres Ltd has restructured its Research and Development team to create synergy and greater alignment to the company's growth aspirations, and to generate speed and relevance while entering new markets.

This comes soon after a decision at the management level to increase Apollo's focus on core research and a substantial increase in R&D spends over the next few years, the company said in a 24 May news release.

“We have merged our research and development resources of nearly 250 individuals from Africa, Europe and India, under the leadership of 2 of our finest experts,” said Neeraj Kanwar, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Apollo Tyres Ltd.

“While commercial and personal vehicle tyre development and testing will be located in India and The Netherlands respectively, smaller teams across key markets will work on customising each global product to market requirements and testing under local conditions, he added.

P K Mohamed, Chief Advisor, Apollo Tyres Ltd will lead the commercial vehicle (CV) tyre division, which will be housed on the same campus as the Chennai manufacturing facility. Peter Snel, Group Head, Apollo Tyres Ltd will spearhead the passenger vehicle (PV) tyre unit, from a new facility being set up in Enschede, the Netherlands.

Mohammed is one of the founding members of Apollo's "technology journey"' in both commercial and passenger tyres and is credited with some of the most successful tyres manufactured till date, Apollo said. 

“Our clear focus is on bringing to market leaner yet robust products for

the commercial segment; which deliver on the parameters of lower fuel

consumption, increased tyre life and added safety features,” Mohammed

commented.

Snel jointed Apollo Vredestein over a decade ago and has been a key members of the team which established Vredestein as a niche ultra high performance tyre brand.

The location of the two centres was taken on the basis of current and potential CV and PV markets. The Middle East and Asia constitute nearly 59 percent of the global commercial tyre market; while Europe and North America comprise 51 percent of the world's passenger tyre sales.

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Press release from Apollo Tyres