Our tyres are now all over the world: Neeraj Kanwar

Tyres manufactured in India are succeeding in testing international conditions and are being accepted by global customers, said Apollo Tyres managing director Neeraj Kanwar.“Tyres being produced in India are going to the rest of the world. They are going to Germany on the high-end autobahn and they’re now in the US. They are all over the world under the Apollo and Vredestein brands,” Kanwar told ET on the sidelines of an event at the Manchester United Football Club.

Apollo Tyres has been a global sponsor of the club for 11 years.

The autobahn is a federal access-controlled highway system in Germany which does not have a speed limit for the most part.

“In most test results, we are getting podium positions in tests. Like, in Germany, they do random tests on their own. They pick up tyres on the shelf and Vredestein has been coming in the top three,” Kanwar said.

Apollo Tyres acquired Dutch tyre maker Vredestein in 2009. Kanwar moved to London after the acquisition to help integrate the two companies globally.The company now sees big opportunities emerging for the Vredestein brand in India. It produces tyres of both Apollo and Vredestein brands at seven locations, five of which are in India. It has two overseas plants in the Netherlands and Hungary.”Vredestein will start opening up once the premium cars start assembling in India. Right now, it’s CKD (completely knocked down cars) but some of the Mercedes’ are being assembled in India – the E class and C class. So, slowly, Vredestein will get into the original equipment segment of the premium OEMs (original equipment manufacturers),” said Kanwar.

Vredestein is a big supplier to Volkswagen for tyres fitted on the new vehicles that the company sells.