At next week’s Auto Salon in Geneva, Apollo Tyres is unveiling its latest UHP summer passenger car tyre. Known as the Aspire 4G, the new range will be available in W and Y speed ratings. Further details will be available following the tyre’s official launch on 7 March.
Net sales at Apollo Tyres increased 36 per cent year-on-year to Rs 32.28 billion (£404.75 million) in the third quarter of the 2011-12 financial year. In the three month period, which ended 31 December 2011, the tyre maker also achieved an operating profit of Rs 3.28 billion (£41.13 million), a rise of 18 per cent. Net profit, at Rs 980 million (£12.29 million), was 18.3 per cent down on the corresponding quarter a year earlier. Breaking net sales down by geographic region, the Indian tyre maker’s domestic operation generated revenue of Rs 20.93 billion (£262.43 million) during the quarter, up 46.2 per cent year-on-year, while European revenue rose 26 per cent to Rs 8.20 billion (£102.78 million) and South Africa revenue grew 28 per cent to Rs 3.83 billion (£48.04 million).
This week the millionth truck-bus radial came off the production line at Apollo Tyres’ Chennai manufacturing facility. The TBR unit entered service in April 2010 with an initial production of 250 tyres a day; following a series of gradual ramp-ups a total of 4,000 tyres are now produced there each day. TBR tyres now account for 19 per cent of Apollo’s total commercial vehicle tyre production, a figure that mirrors India’s overall 20 per cent commercial sector radialisation level.
On 23 January Apollo Tyres held its inaugural Apollo Fleet of the Year awards. With the awards, the tyre maker’s aim was to acknowledge the importance of safety, technology, sustainability and customer service initiatives to fleet operators in India. Taking away the large operator award was VRL Logistics, while Sangha Freight Carrier secured the honour in the medium operator category. The two top winners and other awardees were selected from more than 5,140 entries received from fleet operators across India.
The recent easing of rubber prices was understandably welcomed by tyre manufacturers, yet it represents no panacea for the industry; other costs, notably for energy, continue their upward trend. In India, these issues are accompanied by a weakening rupee. Financial daily the Business Standard reports that despite a 15 per cent fall in natural rubber prices, India’s tyre makers are facing ever tighter operating margins.
In an interview with the Hindu Business Line, Apollo Tyres vice-chairman and managing director Neeraj Kanwar stated he expects to see more gains like those the company experienced in Europe during the second quarter of the financial year. “The trend will continue, Kanwar told the paper. “Already we are seeing good growth even in Q3. In fact, in Europe, Q3 will be much better than Q2, both on sales and profitability.”
At the Essen Motor Show in Germany, which gets underway on 25 November, Apollo Vredestein will present the Vredestein Wintrac Nextreme SUV, a tyre initially displayed at last year’s Reifen Essen show. Capacity restrictions prevented the tyre from being introduced in time for the winter of 2010/11; now the tyre maker is ready to bring its new 4×4 product to market. No mention has been made on a release date for the passenger car version of the Wintrac Nextreme, which was also shown at Reifen Essen.
Almost 20 years ago, Harshad Mehta achieved infamy in India through an engineered rise in the Bombay Stock Exchange that became known as the ‘securities scam’. After the stock broker’s activities came to light in mid-1992, a number of Mehta’s assets were sold off as part of court proceedings. This sale included 5,488,850 shares in Apollo Tyres, equal to 15.1 per cent of the company’s equity, which were purchased by Apollo and its managing family the Kanwars in April 2003. Now the Supreme Court in New Delhi has ordered Apollo Tyres to return a portion of these acquired shares to the Mehta family custodian. A two-judge Supreme Court bench accepted in part the appeal of Ashwin Mehta, brother of Harshad Mehta (who died in 2002) challenging the Mumbai Special Court’s 2001 order that allowed the sale of bulk holding shares back to Apollo Tyres.
Commenting on a half-year that saw the increase in Apollo Tyres’ net profit fall behind sales growth, company chairman and managing director Onkar Kanwar noted that “currency fluctuations, especially a weaker rupee, and continued cost push have impacted our bottom line.” Kanwar described the “near flat growth” in India’s commercial vehicle tyre segment during the first half of the country’s fiscal year as “worrying” and a situation that “could pose a challenge in the coming quarters.” The Apollo chairman said the company’s European business is currently registering strong growth, however his view of the region remains cautious: “We are alert to the broader economic situation there and are keeping a close watch on developments,” he stated.
A commercial court will hear on 26 October TIRE Invest's 42.256 million euro lawsuit against Holland's Amtel-Vredestein N.V., the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI). Nomos-Bank was the initial plaintiff, but reportedly assigned its claims to TIRE Invest last summer.
Earlier this year, Tyres & Accessories reported on one tyre maker's installation of a tread depth measurement unit at its premises in the Netherlands. Similar equipment may become a familiar sight to British motorists in the future – and not everybody is pleased about this.
Goodyear India Ltd was awarded the 'Superbrand' status at a ceremony held in New Delhi 3 August. The award was received by Rajeev Anand, vice chairman and managing director, Goodyear India Ltd. Goodyear India garnered one of the highest scores amongst an assortment of companies and is reportedly the only tyre company in India to receive this recognition.
Saloon car owners here in the UK have long drawn pleasure from deriding the “Chelsea tractor”, and giving drivers of off-roaders ample guff about their vehicles’ environmental hostility and shyness to leave the tarmac is a firmly entrenched part of our motoring culture. But it seems that over in India the 4×4 has yet to be tarred with this brush. Recognising their widespread appeal, Apollo Tyres has released a 4×4 coffee table book in conjunction with Autocar India.
Existing speculation on Apollo Tyres’ intention to branch into the natural rubber segment has been boosted by an article in India’s Business Standard newspaper. This suggests that both Apollo and JK Tyre may be in the business for plantations in Southeast Asia. The two tyre makers’ dependence, along with their competitors, upon ever more expensive spot market purchases has locked them into a situation where external factors determine the price they must charge for their products; the attractiveness of eliminating reliance upon the fickle natural rubber market is therefore very easy to understand.
Relative newcomer to international tyre and automotive servicing machinery Sivik has a comprehensive range of quality products that has seen exports increase, first from its Siberian home and now from its Slovakian sales office, as export manager Nikolay Valov told Tyres & Accessories in Bologna: “It was around six years ago that our marketing strategy was broadened, initially to develop sales in traditional Eastern bloc countries, but gradually this evolved to include several countries in Western Europe and beyond.
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