Apollo Tyres: Vredestein a significant contributor to European growth

Over the past six years, Apollo Tyres has grown in Europe at a rate of ten to 11 per cent, twice the growth rate seen within the premium tyre segment, and the company attributes a significant part of this healthy growth to its Vredestein brand.

“Since my arrival here just over a year ago it’s been easy to see the pace of change within the organisation, the level of ambition and the investments being made to achieve significant growth in the European market,” comments Karl Naylor, Apollo Vredestein’s UK country manager. “These are the downstream results of Apollo Tyres’ global strategy.”

Vredestein’s presence largely contributes to its parent company’s 2.6-2.7 per cent market share and eight to nine per cent growth in the European aftermarket sector; the company anticipates further impetus now that the premium tyre range has also been chosen as OE fitment to select VW Group passenger vehicles. Naylor adds: “As well as the Hungary factory going live and Vredestein becoming an OE brand, numerous other areas of infrastructure within the business have seen investment for the immediate and long-term future, all of which will have an impact on UK operations where, as much as any other European country, we are challenged with a flat, mature and oversaturated market.”

Having market-leading product quality and performance, being able to manufacture efficiently and deliver tyres to markets at competitive prices, working as business partners with distributors in all sales channels to ensure product accessibility, and establishing compelling marketing arguments about Apollo Vredestein to attract targeted consumers are all, according to Naylor, “a significant but attainable challenge, with the necessary investments being available, and the right strategic approach at all levels – global, European and country.”