Michelin’s Commercial JV in India

Michelin-Apollo Tyres (MATL) has entered a joint venture with Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland, India’s two biggest commercial vehicle makers, in a bid to sell radial tyres.

The $85 million venture, to manufacture truck and bus radial tyres will commence by June 2006, reports BS Online, adding that the Pune plant will reach a capacity of 350,000 units by 2009-10.

Michelin already supplies tyres to Volvo in India, and the company is expecting the market for radial tyres to grow in the coming years.

MATL CEO, Herve Dub, attributed work on improving roads as well as big infrastructure projects like the Golden Quadrilateral and the East-West corridor, as factors contributing to the growth. “This will facilitate and eventually trigger a faster pace of radialisation,” he said