New Apollo factories: First Eastern Europe, then Indonesia
In the last year or so conflicting reports on Apollo Tyres’ plans to set up a factory in Eastern Europe have circulated; in March 2010 it was said plans for a new plant there had been dropped in favour of a focus on expanding the former Vredestein facility in the Netherlands, while later in the year talk from Apollo management turned again to international investments. Recent news from Chennai, India based newspaper the Economic Times indicates a new factory in Eastern Europe is indeed still on the cards.
“We are looking at geographies like Eastern Europe, Indonesia for new plants,” company chairman Onkar S. Kanwar told the Economic Times. “First, we will have our factory in Eastern Europe where the labour cost is low and the factory can run for longer hours as in India.” Vice chairman and managing director Neeraj Kanwar noted, however, that “the Eastern Europe project is still in the planning stage. I don’t see us there before a year.”
According to Neeraj Kanwar, any passenger car tyre plant Apollo builds in Eastern Europe would have a daily output of at least 400 tons. To supply potential production at this site and other global production, Apollo Tyres says it is looking for rubber plantations outside of India.
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