Apollo begins radial service centre rollout

Apollo Tyres currently lays claim to a 30 per cent share of India’s commercial vehicle radial market and to accommodate the after sale needs of its customers is establishing fifty ‘Apollo Radial Service Assistance’ (ASRA) centres throughout the country. On April 4 the tyre maker opened the first such centre in Jaipur, a region with a level of radialisation far above the national average.

“For radial tyres, from fitment to maintenance to tracking performance parameters, all are critical,” commented Naresh Singhal, the first ASRA dealer. “For so long, no one was providing this critical service to our customers. Now with Apollo Tyres’ trained manpower at my dealership, I will be able to take better care of radial users in Jaipur. It’s a service which could become a game changer in this growing segment.”

Over the course of the year Apollo Tyres plans to train and equip over fifty of its business partners to enable them to provide this service. In announcing its plans, the tyre maker notes that commercial vehicle radialisation levels in the past five years have grown from three to 16 per cent and are expected to reach 20 per cent in the next year. In northern India, Apollo estimates that in 2011-12 Jaipur will lead in commercial vehicle tyre radialisation with a 36 per cent rate, followed by Sriganganagar and Bhilwara, while the state of Rajasthan will reach 25 per cent.

“Through ARSA, the idea is to provide the customer with a value-added service which allows him to take care of his tyres, but most importantly to enable him to extract a better cost per kilometre,” said Rajesh Dahiya, group head, Sales & Marketing, Apollo Tyres. “When fleet operators buy radials they are making an investment and we need to work alongside them to help them realise value out of this technology investment. And Jaipur is an ideal location to begin.”

The tyre maker adds that by the end of the year its Chennai plant will produce 6,000 of its Endurace truck-bus radials per day.