Apollo Tyres setting up 475 mn euro greenfield plant in Hungary

The facility at Gyongyoshalasz will start production early next year and it will produce tyres to cater to the entire European market

Apollo Tyres is setting up Europe's largest greenfield plant in Hungary with an investment of 475 million euros to produce nearly 62 lakh tyres for passenger cars and heavy commercial vehicles per annum.

The facility at Gyongyoshalasz, located less than 100 km from here, will start production early next year and it will produce tyres to cater to the entire European market.

"Construction of Apollo Tyres' first European greenfield plant at Gyongyoshalasz has started on April 10, 2015 and we will start production in early 2017. It will be Europe's largest greenfield tyres plant," Apollo Tyres (Hungary) KFT, Head - Project Controller, Amitabh Arya told PTI.

The Hungarian facility will be a state-of-the-art plant and once completed it will have a capacity to produce 5.5 million (55 lakh) passenger car and light truck (PCLT) tyres and 6,75,000 heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) tyres per annum.

The total investment in the facility will be 475 million euro (about Rs 3,460 crore) and the Hungarian government was very excited about the investment from a leading Indian company.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, at a joint press conference with visiting Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari last week, had specifically mentioned about the Apollo Tyres plant saying it was one of the largest foreign investments in Hungary.

The Gyongyoshalasz facility will produce both Apollo and Vredestein branded tyres and will cater to the entire European market.

Apollo Vredestein B.V. Is part of Apollo Tyres Ltd and has its head office in Enschede, the Netherlands. It designs, manufactures and sells high-quality tyres under the Apollo and Vredestein brands in Europe and North America.

Onkar S Kanwar headed Apollo Tyres Ltd, with its corporate headquarters in Gurgaon, is in the business of manufacture and sale of tyres since its inception in 1972.

The company has grown manifold, establishing its footprint across the globe. It has manufacturing units in India and The Netherlands.

The company markets its products under its two global brands - Apollo and Vredestein, and its products are available in over 100 countries through a vast network of branded, exclusive and multi-product outlets.

At the end of its financial year on March 31, 2016, Apollo Tyres had clocked a turnover of USD 1.8 billion, backed by a global workforce of around 16,000 employees.