INDIA’s Apollo Tyres Ltd announced plans of building a tyre plant in Eastern Europe. According to the company, they plan making tyres within five years either in Poland, Hungary or Slovak Republic with an investment of around USD$135 million.
The announcement revives plans Apollo Tyres disclosed in early 2008 to build a passenger tyre plant in Hungary. The company’s attention shifted later that year to sites in Slovak Republic, but in the end, Apollo Tyres opted to expand capacity at the Netherlands, plant of its Apollo Vredestein B.V. subsidiary and use capacity at its larger plants in India to serve EU demand.
According to Apollo Tyres, the selection process will be based on the stability of the government to avoid political turmoil; proximity to a port; and the availability of talent, such as tyre engineers and people with experience working for a tyre maker. The new plant is estimated to create 900 jobs.
In other news, Apollo Tyres will be exhibiting at the Geneva motor show, where it is launching an Apollo-brand ultra-high-performance summer passenger vehicle tyre, in W and Y speed ratings.
While Apollo´s Vredestein brand is sold across Europe, Apollo was introduced just last year in Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and the Netherlands. Given the high acceptance and success of both its summer and winter tyres in the passenger vehicle and 4×4 segments, Apollo said its plans are to expand its markets into Switzerland, Austria and Denmark.(PRA)
Asia's First E-Magazine for the Rubber Industry