Apollo to Expand its Tire Portfolio by setting a Plant in Hungary

Hungary: India’s leading tire manufacturer, Apollo Tyres is going to expand its manufacturing base in European market. The company is establishing the Europe’s biggest greenfield plant for passenger cars and heavy commercial vehicles tires in Hungary, investing about USD516 million to produce around 6.2 million tires annually.

Apollo Tyres (Hungary) KFT, Head - Project Controller, Amitabh Arya told "Construction of Apollo Tyres' first European greenfield plant at Gyongyoshalasz has started on April 10, 2015 and we will start production in early 2017. It will be Europe's largest greenfield tires plant,".

The USD516 million (about Rs 3,460 crore) facility in Gyongyoshalasz would produce 675,000 heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) tires whereas 5.5 million tires for passenger car tires and light truck (PC/LT) tires, annually.         

To cater the entire European market, the Gyongyoshalasz plant, will manufacture both Apollo and Vredestein branded tires. Apollo Vredestein B.V. is part of Apollo Tires Ltd that manufactures, designs and sells high-quality tires in the market of North America and Europe.

As per TechSci Research, the new plant would help the company to serve its customers demand for tires in the European market, which would consequently increase the penetration of tires by the company in the entire continent. The company is likely to fulfil the consumer demand in a suitable way, thus, increasing the sale of the products, offered by Apollo.

According to a recent report published by TechSci Research, “Europe Tire Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2021”, tire market in Europe is projected to cross $49 billion by 2021 on account of anticipated stabilization of crude oil price, expected rise in the vehicle sales and expanding vehicle fleet. The vehicle fleet in the region is dominated by the passenger car segment, followed by the commercial vehicle segment. Consequently, the passenger car tire segment held the largest share in Europe’s tire market in 2015, and its dominance is anticipated to continue during the forecast period. Growing per capita income and anticipated increase in the launch of new vehicle models are few of the key factors expected to drive demand for passenger car tires in Europe over the next five years.