Having delayed its plant launch in India from 2012 to 2013, French tyre maker Michelin says it expects to roll out truck radial tyres “some time” during the middle of 2013. “Production will start during the middle of this year. We are installing equipment,” Prashant Prabhu, President, Michelin Group Africa, India and Middle East, was quoted to have said recently. However, he declined to comment on the reasons for the delay. The firm had earlier said the plant would start commercial operations by the end of 2012.
The market for the commercial vehicles is on the downward trend now in the country but according to Prabhu, Michelin has sold all the tyres it had imported into India without disclosing any numbers. The upcoming Indian plant on 290 acres near here would be Michelin’s largest facility in the world in terms of surface area, company officials had earlier said.