BKT doesn’t produce car tyres. Nor tyres for trucks or motorcycles. The company’s Research and Development Centre in India focuses solely on vehicles that operate off the highway, and constantly looks for new solutions by developing and fine-tuning tyre ranges and new tyre sizes for specialised applications.
The lockdown now in place across India is one of the most radical measures seen to date during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, tyre production has come to a standstill at plants across the country. While India’s government exempts the manufacture of “ essential commodities” from the three-week lockdown it hasn’t provided clarity as to what products it considers essential. Therefore it is unclear when tyre manufacture will recommence within the country.
Balkrishna Industries Limited (BKT) reports that it commenced trial production for the second phase of its carbon black facility in Bhuj, India on 12 March. Trial production at the currently 80,000 tonne per annum facility began ahead of schedule, the tyre maker adds.
It’s already title partner to the knockout championship Coupe de la Ligue (French League Cup), and now BKT has extended its football activities in France by becoming title sponsor to the country’s second division league. From the start of the 2020/21 season, this will be known as Ligue 2 BKT.
Never change a winning team, says BKT. That is why it has extended its Monster Jam partnership with promoter Feld Motor Sports. The agreement, first signed in 2014 and scheduled to expire in 2020, now runs until 2026.
EATD recently disclosed plans to bring a new investor on board, and when we spotted Yogesh Mahansaria visiting the distributor’s stand at Agritechnica 2019 the list of potential investor candidates suddenly became a whole lot shorter. Mahansaria is indeed the new investor; EATD confirms that Mahansaria Tyres Private Limited (MTPL) has reached an in-principle agreement to acquire a major stake in the company.
A new product on display at Agritechnica offers a further solution to agricultural operators looking for a truck tyre that can be driven directly onto the field. This is the FL 633 Performa, one of three new tyres that BKT is presenting at the show.
On 5 October, San José Logística de Pneus, a market leading OTR tyre distributor in Portugal and a major player in the equivalent Spanish market opened new facilities in Cantanhede, Portugal.
BKT has shared a few details about the new tyre it will unveil at Agritechnica. Specifically developed for agricultural trailers, the V-Flexa radial features VF technology that enables the transport of heavy loads with an inflation pressure 30 per cent less than that of a standard tyre of the same size.
The new BKT carbon black plant at the company’s Bhuj site in India is expected to reach 100 per cent capacity by 2021. The tyre maker says that production capacity for carbon black reached 60,000 tonnes by the end of June 2019; trial production commenced on 28 June. Capacity is expected to reach 80,000 tonnes by the end of September and continue increasing to a planned production capacity of 130,000 tonnes per annum.
BKT (Balkrishna Tires) has become Official Global Partner of LaLiga, Spain’s top-flight football league, for a period of three years. The partnership takes effect immediately and runs until the end of the 2021/22 season.
The likelihood of seeing BKT tyres ‘Made in the USA’ appears even more uncertain following an earnings call held by Balkrishna Industries Ltd. (BKT) on 13 August. Although the tyre maker reported three days earlier that the 20,000 tonne per annum factory project was just “in abeyance”, comments made during the call suggest the pause on work is more than temporary.
The Board of Directors at off-highway tyre specialist Balkrishna Industries Ltd. (BKT) have temporarily suspended their plans to invest in setting up a factory in the USA. According to the Board, the capex project has been placed in abeyance due to “difficult macroeconomics” and “volatile climate conditions.”
American football isn’t a mainstream sport in Europe – not yet, anyway. But its fanbase on this side of the Atlantic is growing, and audience numbers will be helped by next month’s 2019 IFAF Women’s European Championship in the UK and – starting next week – the 2019 U19 European Championship in Bologna, Italy. Off-highway tyre maker BKT is presenting sponsor of the latter event.
In India, the lighting of a lamp symbolises new beginnings. For BKT, this tradition was a fitting gesture for observing a significant step in what it calls the ‘Next Level’: The lighting ceremony marked the start of festivities to celebrate the inauguration of BKT’s rebuilt European headquarters on 5 April.
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