Apollo to launch Vredestein tyres in India

A year after it acquired Dutch company Vredestein, Apollo Tyres today said that it will introduce the premium European tyre brand in the country within the next 12 months.

"We are working on launching the Vredestein brand in India. We will look at introducing it within a year," Apollo Vredestein chief executive officer Rob Oudshoorn told PTI.

In May 2009, Indian tyre major Apollo Tyres had acquired Netherlands-based Vredestein Banden BV (VBBV) for an undisclosed sum from Russia's largest tyre maker, Amtel-Vredestein NV, which had gone bankrupt.

"We have been studying the demands of the Indian market in the premium segment. The only thing is that in India, tyres are of low-level and heavier ones, and more in the mass segment," Oudshoorn said.
    
He, however, said that the company would consider some modifications in its products to suit the growing Indian auto market.
    
"Though we are in the high-performance segment, we are making our tyres lighter and lighter... We will look at certain adjustments for the Indian market. However, we will not compromise on technology," he added.
    
Vredestein has a manufacturing unit near Amsterdam with an installed production capacity of 5.5 million tyres per annum. As many as 70 per cent of the tyres produced there are high-performance and high-speed passenger ones that are sold primarily in the European Union.
    
The tyres produced at the facility are primarily of two brands- Vredestein and Maloya.
    
Apollo Tyres, which was earlier planning to set up a greenfield plant in Europe, had shelved the plan following the Dutch firm's acquisition.
    
In 2008, Apollo Tyres had withdrawn from Hungary due to political opposition and started looking for alternative sites in east European nations, including Slovakia. However, it aborted its plan after Vredestein came into its kitty.
    
Post-acquisition, Vredestein Banden BV was rechristened as Apollo Vredestein BV.