Apollo developing tyres for Indian military

Apollo Tyres is reportedly developing tyres for India’s defence forces that will be manufactured at the company’s facility in Chennai, India. The Chennai facility currently produces 16,000 passenger car tyres and 6,000 truck-bus radials per day, according to Apollo. The company is in the process of doubling the truck-bus radial capacity at the factory to 12,000 tyres per day.

Satish Sharma, president of Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) for Apollo Tyres said: “Apollo Tyres has been supplying bias tyres to the defence services from a long time now. Currently, we are in the process of developing new tyres for them, which will be produced at our Chennai facility going forward.”

The new tyres will be jointly developed by the Department of Defence and the company. The trial supply has already started and regular supply will begin next year, the company said.

Currently tyres for the country’s military, which include unique sizes and low volumes, are imported – meaning “very high rates” Indian media quoted an Apollo official as saying. As much as 60 per cent of the tyre requirement is said to be met by imports.