Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Apr 21, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Apr 21, 2004 |
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Marketing
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New Products & Services Michelin Apollo launches truck, bus radials Our Bureau
Mr Jean-Marc Francois, President, Michelin Asia Pacific, with Mr Onkar S. Kanwar, CMD, Apollo Tyres, at a press conference in the Capital on Tuesday. - Kamal Narang
New Delhi , April 20 MICHELIN Apollo Tyres Pvt Ltd (MATL), a 51:49 joint venture between Michelin Group and Apollo Tyres Ltd (ATL), has announced the launch of a range of truck and bus radials for the Indian market. The truck radial market in the country is at a nascent stage. Such tyres account for only about two per cent of the commercial tyre market. The company would initially import the truck and bus radials from Michelin's facility in China and distribute them through the dealer network of Apollo Tyres. It is, however, hopeful of manufacturing truck and bus radials in India (most likely at Ranjangaon in Pune) by the first quarter of 2005. "Once we set up our manufacturing facility, we would stop importing truck and bus radials. We want to set up a plant that would initially have an installed capacity of 3,00,000 to 3,50,000 truck and bus radial tyres per annum. We hope to reach this production level by 2007," Mr Jean-Marc Francois, President Asia-Pacific, Michelin Asia-Pacific Pte Ltd, told presspersons here. MATL plans to invest about $75 million in the first phase for setting up the manufacturing facility. Mr Francois also made it clear that the company has no plans to export tyres from the proposed manufacturing facility. Mr Herve Dub, who would officially take over as CEO in May 2004, said that the truck radials imported by MATL featured both the Michelin and Apollo Tyre trademarks on its sidewalls to demonstrate the strong contribution of each partner to the joint venture. In the current year, about 15,000-20,000 truck and bus radials are to be imported by MATL from China. The company has a seven-member board of directors, with four nominees from Michelin and three from Apollo Tyres. The Michelin nominees are: Mr Jean Francois, Mr Herve Richert, Mr Herve Dub and Mr Dominique Galopin. The three nominees of ATL are Mr Onkar Kanwar, Chairman, Mr Neeraj Kanwar, Chief Operating Officer, and Mr Satish Sharma, Chief-Marketing. Mr Kanwar said that MATL wanted to "drive change in the transport industry" and that the truck radials would bring in the benefits of speed, comfort, higher mileage and fuel saving to the customer. Mr Satish Sharma, board member, said that the truck and bus radials were priced in the Indian market at about "50 per cent more than the price of a bias truck tyre". He also said that the marketing effort would be focused on the southern and western parts of the country, besides select markets of the North.
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