Second Apollo R&D centre opens

Apollo Tyres has inaugurated the second of its two global R&D centres. According to Indian publication The Hindu, the tyre maker opened the centre at its Chennai facility today. The centre will focus on the development of commercial vehicle tyres.

A decision was taken in 2012 to restructure Apollo Tyres’ research and development team across three regions, with consumer tyre development led from Europe and commercial vehicle tyres from India. In January 2013, the company opened its consumer tyre R&D headquarters, Apollo Tyres Global R&D BV, in Enschede, The Netherlands. Apollo plans to employ close to 150 people at that site.

In its Annual Report for the 2012-13 financial year, Apollo Tyres stated that it expended a total of Rs 406.88 million (£4.07 million) on research and development, 0.48 per cent of turnover for the year.