Apollo Vredestein, a Netherlands-based tyre manufacturer acquired by India’s Apollo Tyres, is planning to phase out certain product lines related to high-performance passenger and farm tyres in Enschede, in eastern Netherlands, to ensure continued sustainability of its manufacturing operations. The move precedes the eventual elimination of at least 750 jobs over the next two years.
Apollo Vredestein aims to specialise the Enschede plant on agricultural tyres and high-value passenger tyres with short production runs. The company said it was ‘strategically adapting’ the site to secure a sustainable future, after “large investments” made in recent years in modernising the plant, as well as employees’ dedication had proved ineffective against the market transformation.The company also did not comment on the plant’s expected capacity/output once the restructuring is complete. Its current capacity is listed as 6.7 million units a year and has 1,333 production-related employees.
Apollo Tyres acquired the Enschede plant in 2009 from Vredestein Banden; it has a second production facility in Europe, near Gyöngyöshalász, Hungary, that it opened in 2017. The Hungarian plant — the company’s sixth worldwide — has an annual capacity of 5.5 million passenger and light truck tyres and about 675,000 commercial vehicle tyres.