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Tag Archive for: Apollo Tyres

Apollo Showcases Concept Tyres Tyrexpo Asia ‘07

Apollo tyres has enlisted the services of automobile designer Tom Tjaarda in the development of its latest product, the Apollo Apsire TT. According to the company the result, currently on show on Apollo’s spacious Tyrexpo Asia show stand, is a “concept tyre combining the inherent strengths of performance and safety.” The tyre features a bidirectional asymmetric tread pattern, created for greater grip, manoeuvring and comfort.

Says Tjaarda, creator of design classics like the De Tomaso Pantera, Fiat 124 Spyder and over 70 other models, “When Apollo Tyres asked me to design a tyre, many ideas rushed through my head and I knew it was not going to be easy. But now that I look at Apollo Aspire TT, I can see a high performance tyre which evokes confidence and trust.”

12th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

New MD for African Apollo Group Company

Apollo Tyres Group member Dunlop Zimbabwe Ltd. has announced the appointment of a new substantive managing director. CEO Dr Luis Ceneviz reports that Mr. Kennedy Mandevani stepped into this role as of July 16, replacing Eugene Turina, who resigned in April in order to pursue other business interests.

“Dunlop Zimbabwe Limited, the country’s sole tyre manufacturing company, and a member of the Apollo Group of Companies, is pleased to announce the appointment of Kennedy Mandevani as its managing director with effect from 16 July 2007,” said Dr Cenevis. “Mr Mandevani brings to Dunlop invaluable experience at executive level acquired in Zimbabwe and in the region in a career spanning over 20 years.”

10th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

JWT to Handle MRF Media Account

Former Apollo Tyres creative media provider JWT has secured the MRF Tyres account, a deal reportedly worth Rs 200,000,000 (US$5 million). The global advertising firm’s Chennai based office will handle the MRF corporate and motorcycle tyres accounts, and will promote the tyremaker through a number of mediums including television, print and internet advertising.

JWT allegedly was required to drop the Apollo Tyres account in order to be taken on by MRF.

6th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Manufacturer to Show Apollo and Regal Brands in Singapore

Apollo Tyres has described plans to showcase about 21 products from the product ranges of its leading Apollo and Regal brands. Within the Apollo passenger car range, the company is we are considering showing its W-speed rated, directional, 100 per cent silica compound Aspire. This will be supported by the V-rated asymmetrical Acelere Sportz; the H-speed rated Acelere; and the Amazer XL. The company’s range of Hawkz 4×4 tyres Hawkz HT, HL, AT and RT meant for differing SUV road applications will also be on show.

In the commercial segment Apollo will exhibit four of its leading cross-ply tyres – Amar Gold, XT-7, XT-9 Gold and Duramile. The radial agriculture tyre Farm King and three patterns from the company’s pre-cured tread rubber range DuraTreads will also be exhibited.

As far as the Regal brand is concerned, the Regal Racer and Sportz for passenger cars; and Transport RS, Transport RD and the Regal super single for commercial vehicles, will be displayed.

3rd August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Indian Tyremakers to Spend £670 million

According to India’s Economic Times, tyre companies in the subcontinent plant to invest around £670 million in their operations over the next two or three years. The financial daily reports that this sizable sum will be spent by a number of players including MRF, JK Tyre, Apollo, BKT, Ceat, Birla and Bridgestone. Birla alone is reportedly spending £120 million, while Ceat is said to be making investments worth £97 million and JK Tyre £45 million.

Such a large investment is expected to increase industry turnover from its current £2.3 billion up to £3.9 billion, and much of the increase may come from the production of TBR tyres. While radialisation in the passenger car sector has reached over 95 per cent in India, TBR market penetration remains a paltry 2 to 3 per cent.

30th July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

All Steamed Up

Apollo Tyres has signed an agreement with Gail India Ltd., India’s largest natural gas company, to cooperate in a ‘steam conversion project’. The deal, signed on July 10, not only falls under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) criteria but will also lead to lower gas consumption and increased energy efficiency for Apollo.

The agreement was signed by Apollo chief – legal Shri Mahesh Sharma and Gail director of marketing Shri B C Tripathi at Gail’s office in New Delhi. Also present for the occasion were numerous senior officials including Gail chairman and managing director Dr. U D Choubey, Apollo chairman and managing director Shri Onkar S Kanwar, and Dr. Amit Mitra, Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

The project will be implemented by Gail at its Vaghodia Compressor Station in the western state of Gujarat and will provide steam to Apollo within 24 months at a cost of around £4.3 million. The duration of the Agreement is 15 years and commercial supply will start from July 2009, with an annual contracted quantity of 436,800 tonnes.

11th July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo International Gains WEF Membership

Apollo Group export company Apollo International Ltd. (AIL), sister company to Apollo Tyres, has been inducted into the World Economic Forum’s Community of Global Growth Companies. AIL was selected after meeting the World Economic Forum’s stringent parameters and the company has stated its initial involvement will be participation in the inaugural annual meeting of the ‘New Champions’ to be held in China’s Dalian from 6 to 8 September.

“We feel privileged to have been identified as a Global Growth Company by the World Economic Forum,” said AIL managing director Raaja Kanwar. “The Forum will provide us with the platform for interaction and collaboration with other members companies and sharing of ideas of business opportunities. This will also help us in furthering our vision of nurturing entrepreneurs through partnership.”

Apollo International exports tyres through its Tyre Tech Global division, which is also the technology transfer of tyre manufacturing capabilities to other countries. Tyre Tech Global is headquartered in Gurgaon, India and has offices in Hong Kong, China (Qingdao), Dubai and Canada.

6th July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop International UHP Tyres Benefit from Silica

Apollo Tyres’ owned Dunlop Tyres International has introduced a new silica compound into its 16 to 18-inch UHP passenger car tyre range. The company is confident that the silica compound will offer drivers a range of benefits, including better wet grip, superior cornering ability and overall improved handling from the W and Z speed rated tyres.

On-road tests of tyres made using the silica compound demonstrate an improvement to wet skid performance by as much as 15 per cent, and Dunlop International report that similar improvements in grip and braking distances were also experienced. However, the company’s technical director, Danie Langner believes the most significant benefit of this new compound will be felt in motorists’ pockets. “With fuel prices soaring any innovation that helps reduce a vehicle’s fuel consumption is valuable,” he commented. “The good news is that by replacing some of the traditional carbon black compound with silica we have substantially reduced the rolling resistance of our tyres. In fact, tests indicate that, provided the tyres are maintained at the correct pressure our silica compound will reduce rolling resistance by 20 per cent or more. This means that less fuel is required to propel the vehicle forward, with a 20 per reduction in rolling resistance translating into a 5% reduction in fuel consumption. That’s a significant saving; basically your Dunlop tyres will now pay for themselves over their lifespan.”

3rd July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Indian Tiremaker Joins TRIB

(Akron/Tire Review India’s Apollo Tyres has joined the recently renamed Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau (TRIB), bringing the group’s membership to 480 members in 48 countries.

“TRIB continues to grow internationally as more and more companies in the new tire and retread industries throughout the world realize that TRIB is the only international retread industry association representing new tire manufacturers, retreaders and tyre repair companies,” said Harvey Brodsky, TRIB’s managing director.

18th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Slowing Vehicle Sales & Tyre Imports Squeezing Indian Tyremakers

The share market value of several Indian tyre manufacturers has fallen in the wake of news that domestic vehicle makers such as Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland are reducing their OE tyre orders. Vehicle sales in India have declined in the last year, with a 15-20 per cent fall in growth recorded. Shares in MRF Ltd fell 3.22 per cent on June 6, while stock in Ceat Tyres and JK Tyres fell by 5.07 and 3.68 per cent respectively. Apollo Tyres closed 0.81 per cent lower. “There will definitely be a little downturn in tyre stocks as auto stocks are all down,” said Ms Vaishali Jajoo, an automotive analyst with brokerage firm Angel Broking.

8th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Investing a Further £50 Million in Healthcare

The Apollo Tyres group has outlined plans to invest a further Rs 4,000 million (£49.78 million) in significantly expanding its recently established healthcare venture, Artemis Health Sciences. These funds would be used to establish five new hospitals in India – four secondary healthcare facilities each containing 150 beds, and a speciality hospital with 220 beds – and at present the company is looking at a number of prospective cities, including locations in Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Vadodara, Coimbatore and Bhubaneswar. These hospitals would be set up in the next three years.

Artemis has already invested Rs 2,000 million (£24.89 million) building a 260-bed hospital in the city of Gurgaon. This facility is expected to be operational by mid-June. Additional future investment will see the number of beds at the Guragon facility, which specialises in orthopaedic, cardiovascular and oncology treatment nearly double to 500 beds.

29th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Invests to Ace the Tennis World

During a press conference on May 23 Apollo Tyres Ltd unveiled its long-term plans for increasing the profile of tennis as a sport and developing young Indian champions for the global arena. The Haryana based tyre major made a commitment to invest Rs 100 crore (US$24.64 million/£12.45 million) towards the development of Indian tennis over a ten-year period, one of the largest sports initiatives made by any Indian company. One of the stated aims of the project is to see an Indian player taking out the Grand Slam championship by 2018.

“Over the decades, tennis has always thrown up some great Indian talent, who on individual merit and hard work, have made India proud. However to succeed today, we need a lot more than talent. I believe, with world-class training, facilities and mentoring of young players, we could see an Indian winning a Grand Slam title in the near future. We will work towards making the sport more popular with today’s youngsters and realising this goal by the year 2018,” said Neeraj R S Kanwar, Apollo Tyres’ joint managing director & COO.

24th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Invests to Ace the Tennis World

During a press conference on May 23 Apollo Tyres Ltd unveiled its long-term plans for increasing the profile of tennis as a sport and developing young Indian champions for the global arena. The Indian tyre major made a commitment to invest £12.45 million towards the development of Indian tennis over a ten-year period, one of the largest sports initiatives made by any Indian company. One of the stated aims of the project is to see an Indian player taking out the Grand Slam championship by 2018.

The Apollo Tennis Initiative will operate on two levels. Firstly, it has the aim of popularising the sport to attract youngsters to the game and, second, to identify young talent and sponsor their training, skill development and global exposure. Apollo will be guided in its efforts by the expertise of top Indian player Mahesh Bhupathi.

24th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

MRF Tops India OE Tyre Study

(Akron/Tire Review) India’s MRF received the highest customer satisfaction scores in the recent JD Power & Associates Asia Pacific 2007 OE tyre survey.

The study considers new-vehicle buyer perceptions of OE tyre appearance, durability, ride quality, traction and handling.

MRF ranked highest overall, scoring 840 points out of a possible 1,000 points. It marked the fifth time MRF topped the OE study list.

JK Tyre followed in the rankings with 822 points, while Apollo garnered 812 points.

8th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Ceat Identified as Strong in OTR Sector

The online stock broking firm India Infoline has recommended Ceat Ltd as a recommended buy only a day or so after making a similar recommendation regarding Apollo Tyre. India Infoline describe Ceat as a ‘diversified tyre major’ who is ‘ramping up its production facilities to benefit from the uptrend in [the] automobile industry,’ and claims the tyremaker has plans in the pipeline that will see its OTR capacity more than doubled from 40,000 to 100,000 units per year.

Tyres & Accessories has previously reported on the company’s intention to establish three new greenfield facilities, one of which would function as a ‘speciality tyre’ plant for OTR tyres. In addition to OTR investment Ceat intends to spend Rs200 million (£2.4 million) upgrading its passenger car tyre production facilities and increasing output in this segment.

19th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors