Leading tyre manufacturer in the country- Apollo Tyres has widespread operation consisting of five established manufacturing facilities in India and two in Hungary and Netherlands. The company has officially stated that they are about to commence local manufacturing of the branded tyres named 'Vredestein' in India.
It was in the year 2013 when Apollo tyres had introduced Verdestein range in the country. Now that the Government of India has restricted tyre imports which was once under open general license, Apollo tyres has a new strategy which is to manufacture the premium tyre brand in India which will help them to balance their market.
Neeraj Kanwar, vice-chairman and MD, Apollo Tyres, stated that, "We are working towards locally manufacturing Vredestein-branded tyres in India so that we are able to offer Apollo as well as made-in-India Vredestein tyres for the higher segment, primarily targeting customers of Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW."
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Kanwar added, "In fact, this strategy is linked to the import restrictions on tyres. Imports have been happening in the higher segment of the market which is the 16-inches-and-above category and with the restrictions coming in, it opens up that market for us,"
According to Kanwar, "Today, all our plants in India are multi-products and are selling to all markets. They can manufacture both Apollo as well as Vredestein brands."
Kanwar further mentioned that the luxury car market has always been a niche segment which only provides a limited volume that was about 40,340 units in the Financial year 2018.
The officials at Apollo tyres mentioned that the Vredestein tyres which will be manufactured in India will also be exported to different markets for economic growth.
"We can produce in India and can export to other markets in Asia such as Thailand, and to Dubai and all of South Africa as well. We will start exporting to these high-end markets and on top of Vredestein, we will also introduce high-end Apollo-branded tyres in these markets," said Kanwar.
"We will be launching the Vredestein-branded tyres in India within the next three months," he confirmed.
The Vredestein car radial tyres will be available in sizes R16 and R20. The company plans market the Apollo Branded Tyres with the help of various schemes.
