Apollo Tyres “Disappointed at Misleading Story”

A story in the Business Standard in India, and mentioned on this website yesterday, has provoked a reply from Mr. Sunam Sarkar Chief, Corporate Strategy & Marketing for Apollo Tyres. The headline was “Apollo Tyres to Stop Making Radials in India” and Mr. Sarkar has written to the publication, saying he was “quite disappointed” in the story, which he describes as “misleading in the way it represents the facts” and with a headline that is “completely erroneous.” Mr Sarkar goes on: “There is no plan to stop making radials in India, rather we are increasing capacity. The specific fact that we discussed was the possible sourcing of low volume products from our South African facilities, so that our plant in Baroda can produce more of the high volume sizes. “The quote that ‘Apollo currently manufactures 200 radial tyres a month’ is completely untrue. We are currently manufacturing more than 7,000 radials per day, with plans to increase to 10,000 radials per day very shortly. While it is correct that we are exploring the replacement of South African manufactured cross-ply tyres with Indian ones, the important aspect of that strategy that does not come through in the story is that this production in South Africa will be replaced with increased production of truck radial tyres.”