Top management at Apollo Tyres have announced they’ve accepted a pay cut during the market difficulties brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The tyre maker says it is also preparing to implement further measures.
Some 750 jobs will be lost due to restructuring at the Apollo Vredestein tyre plant in Enschede, the Netherlands over the next couple of years, and Dutch politicians want to know if the European Union has contributed in any way to the chain of events that will lead to some of Enschede’s tyre production relocating to Hungary. MEPs from Dutch political party the CDA (Christian Democratic Appeal) have asked the European Commission to clarify certain points.
A meeting between the management of Apollo Vredestein BV (AVBV) and employees took place today to discuss the future of the company’s tyre factory in Enschede, the Netherlands. The workforce was told that Apollo Tyres intends to “specialise” production at the site in order to ensure profitability. Measures related to this realignment include reducing AVBV’s personnel by approximately 750 full-time employees over a period of 24 months.
Private equity firm Warburg Pincus is investing around £117 million in Apollo Tyres via a subsidiary. On 26 February, the tyre maker’s Board of Directors approved the issue of up to 108 million compulsorily convertible preference shares, each with a face value of Rs 100, to Emerald Sage Investment Ltd. The transaction is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.
Some 21 per cent of the world’s population live in countries belonging to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Nepal is one of these eight countries, and this is the market where Apollo Tyres generates more than 35 per cent of its SAARC region export revenues. To better service customers there, the company has now set up an office in the capital, Kathmandu.
Apollo Tyres has partnered with Manchester United F.C. for more than seven years, and an important aspect of this engagement has been the nurturing of young football talent. The latest programme has now been launched in India and involves the Manchester United U-18 team, which in May will visit the country for the first time.
Under a new partnership with commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland, Apollo Tyres will provide healthcare facilities to truckers at a major transport hub in southern India. The tyre maker describes this collaboration as “a unique, first of its kind partnership.”
The team at Auto Bild Allrad faced a problem when it came to performing their annual winter tyre test – they couldn’t find enough snow. To get around this shortcoming, the testers travelled to Japan with their equipment and ten brands of European market winter tyres. They also took a set of summer tyres with them for comparison and to serve as a warning to anyone tempted to drive on them in the snow and ice.
Passenger car tyre production and capacity at Apollo Tyres’ Gyöngyöshalász plant in Hungary has steadily grown over the past two years. These respectively reached 2.1 million and almost 3 million units a year by the end of March 2019, and Apollo is still ramping up in Hungary. It’s a different story in Enschede, some 700 miles to the west, but Apollo Tyres says it isn’t preparing to end car tyre production in the Netherlands any time soon.
Apollo Vredestein has launched a consumer-focused campaign in the UK to promote the use of all-season tyres: Until 30 September 2019, all purchases of four Vredestein Quatrac all-season tyres at participating dealers qualify for a free Google Home Mini or Amazon Echo Dot.
Apollo Vredestein has been selected as tyre supplier for Lowland Rescue and Kent Central Ambulance services. The services join Medi 4 Ambulance Service in using the manufacturer’s products on their fleets.
In addition to his existing remit as chief quality & business excellence officer, Pedro Matos has now taken on the added responsibility of leading Apollo Tyres’ original equipment strategy and sales for passenger car tyres in Europe.
Two Apollo Vredestein tyres have been given strong plaudits after earning recommendations from the German-speaking motoring associations and testing organisation ADAC. Looking at commercial van tyres for the first time, the Apollo Altrust van tyre took first position out of 16 models tested, while Vredestein, a relative veteran of such tests compared to its sister brand, was only bested by Bridgestone’s Turanza T005, taking second place on the car tyre podium with its Sportrac 5.
UK-based Eavesway Travel has specified Apollo Tyres’ Endurace range as fitment on 30 executive coaches in operation on the company’s Eavesway Cruiselink operation. With decades of experience in catering for cruise passengers, Eavesway Travel’s premier coach service offers transport to the main cruise providers from major towns and cities across the UK.
Extending its sports sponsorship engagement beyond football, Apollo Tyres has entered into a five-year agreement with former Indian international cricketer and team captain Sachin Tendulkar. This is the first time an individual celebrity has served as Apollo brand ambassador.
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