Daimler India to fit JK tyres to Bharat Benz trucks

JK Tyre and Industries Ltd, India’s number three tyre maker, has reportedly secured an OE supply deal to Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt Ltd, supplying tyres for its Bharat Benz trucks.

“The latest original equipment manufacturer (OEM) client for us is Daimler India that will be rolling out trucks at its plant here,” Raghupati Singhania, vice chairman and managing director, told reporters on Monday 6 February, according local news sources. Daimler India is expected to launch its trucks sometime in the middle of this year.

According to Singhania, the company supplies 14 per cent of its truck tyres and 55 percent of its car tyres to OEMs and the balance in the replacement market.

The order is expected to be met by the company’s latest production facility, which is described as “highly automated”. This plant, which is based in Chennai, is JK Tyre’s sixth in India and is believed to have a planned workforce of around 450.

“The Chennai plant has a capacity to roll out 2.5 million passenger car radial tyres and 400,000 truck radial tyres. Ramping up the production in a gradual manner, we will reach full production in six months time,” Singhania is reported as saying.

He said the company’s total car radial tyre capacity is now 7.5 million tyres and 1.4 million truck radial tyres per annum.

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