Goodyear India to study market viability prior to TBR launch

A market study into the viability of selling Goodyear’s truck and bus radial range in India has begun, reports the Hindu Business Line. The managing director of Goodyear India, Rajeev Anand, stated on February 22 that “We are putting our TBRs into the market on a pilot basis for testing. The market study will take around 18 months after which we will launch a new range. At present we only make cross ply tyres for trucks and buses, in which we have a small market share.” As the financial daily notes, radials still account for just 12 per cent of the 950,000 truck and bus tyres sold in India each month, yet sales have more than doubled in the last two years due to growth in the commercial vehicle market.

At the same time as announcing Goodyear India’s commercial vehicle radial plans, Mr. Anand discussed plans to invest in the expansion and modernization of the company’s passenger car tyre plant in Aurangabad and the Ballabhgarh agricultural tyre factor in Haryana. “India is our second largest investment in the Asia-Pacific region. With the market and sales growing rapidly, we will invest more in modernisation, expansion and dealer network,” he commented.