Apollo Tyres Gains On Expansion Plans In Hungary

Apollo Tyres has announced setting up its first Greenfield plant outside India in Hungary at the cost of 475 million Euro by 2017.

The company's board has approved the setting up of the facility that will have a total capacity of 5.5 million passenger car and light truck (PCLT) tyres and 675,000 heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) tyres per annum. The investment will be made over the next five years.

The company will soon start the process of applying for necessary permissions and licences to set up the facility. Similarly, the process towards Environmental Impact Assessment will be started soon. The construction of this plant is expected to start in the spring of 2015 and the first tyre is likely to roll out in early 2017.

The facility, which will come up at the new industrial zone near Gyongyoshalasz, will produce both Apollo and Vredestein branded tyres, and will cater to the entire European market. Apollo Tyres already has an existing facility in the Netherlands.

At present, Apollo Tyres has four manufacturing units in India, three in southern Africa and one in the Netherlands. The combined production capacity of all facilities put together is 1,700 tonnes per day.

The company decided to invest in the new facility in Eastern Europe after its $ 2.5 billion acquisition of US-based Cooper Tire fell through last year.