Apollo Tyres chalks out plans to race ahead

Entry into the two-wheeler radial segment, expanding product portfolio of its agriculture segment, launching a second brand in truck and bus radial tyres segment, and setting up a Rs 200 crore new line for SUV tyres are some of the strategies chalked out by Apollo Tyres Ltd. to race ahead of competition by 2020, a senior company official has said.

Satish Sharma, President, Apollo Tyres Ltd., Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, said the company will also launch a second brand -- Regal -- in the commercial vehicle segment later while expanding the truck-bus radial tyres production capacity with an outlay of Rs 2,700 crore.

Speaking to reporters here, Sharma said the company had charted out a plan for assuming the leadership role in the sector by 2020.

According to him, the company forayed into the two-wheeler tyres segment in March 2016 and is selling around 100,000 units per month. It plans to take this figur up to around 200,000 units per month.

He said Apollo Tyres will start rolling out radial tyres for two-wheelers from its Baroda plant in around 16 months while it is outsourcing its tyres now.

Sharma was here to launch a new range of tyres for commercial vehicles.

Speaking about the other sunrise segment -- the agriculture segment, Sharma said more mechanisation is happening in agriculture which augurs well for the company and it plans to take advantage of the opportunity.

He said the company will launch its second brand 'Regal' in the commercial vehicle tyres segment at some stage in the future to tighten its grip on the market.

According to Sharma, the company has a market share of 27 per cent in the commercial vehicle tyres segment and plans to take it to around 33 per cent.

Sharma said the company is putting up a dedicated tyre line for sport utility vehicle segment with a capacity to roll out around 3,000 tyres per day with an outlay of around Rs 200 crore.

This will further strengthen the company's hold in the passenger car segment -- currently dominated by Apollo Tyres, MRF Ltd. and Bridgestone, he added.

--IANS

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