Apollo Tyres partners Ideal Motors

by Sapumali GALAGODA

The $ 50 billion Sri Lankan economy is at a critical point in its growth, spurred by large scale development is expecting to grow at seven to eight percent over the next few years, said former Sri Lankan deputy cricket captain and Deputy Chairman of Ideal Motors Aravinda De Silva.

India's largest tyre manufacturer Apollo entered the Sri Lankan Market partnering Ideal Motors, the automobile distribution and marketing arm of the Ideal Group of Companies last week in Colombo.

From left, Chief Executive Officer Ideal Motors Chaminda Perera, Deputy Chairman Ideal Motors Aravinda De Silva, Chairman Ideal Motors Nalin Welgama, Head International Sales Apollo Tyres Rajesh Kumar, Head Regional Sales Apollo Tyres, Rajesh Udayakumar and General Manger Ideal Motors Jagath Samarasekara. Pic: Chinthaka Kumarasinghe

"Apollo will focus on passenger vehicle and cross ply truck and light truck tyres.

It will gradually expand over time to include Apollo's entire range currently sold in India which includes truck, bus radial, agriculture and off-highway tyres", said Head international Sales, Apollo Tyres, Rajesh Udaya Kumar.

"We chose Sri Lanka as our partner because of its robust and growing economy, infrastructure development, huge growth potential and favourable trend for the automobile industry.

We chose Ideal because it is an organisation with determination, vision and leadership, a strong presence in the automobile industry and its alignment with Apollo's approach to business", he said.

"Our anticipated turnover for 2011/12 is more than Rs 12 billion and by partnering with Apollo we'll be able to achieve it.

In the next few days we'll be opening our first Apollo Zone in Colombo.

Fifty-five thousand tyres per month in the commercial vehicle market in Sri Lanka is dominated by cross ply tyres," said Chairman Ideal Motors, Nalin Welgama.

Apollo Tyres Ltd established in 1976, is India's leading tyre manufacturer with operations in three continents.

Its total turnover was $1.99 billion as at March 31.

The company acquired Apollo Tyres South Africa (originally Dunlop Tyres International) and Apollo Vredestien BV (originally Vredestien Banden BV) in the Netherlands.

The company has 16,000 employees in India, South Africa and Europe.

It has four plants in India, two in South Africa and one in the Netherlands, producing an entire range of passenger car, SUV, MUV light truck, truck bus, agriculture, industrial, specialty, bicycle and off the road tyres and alloy wheels.

India is the largest market with a revenue of 62 percent, Europe 25 percent and South Africa 13 percent exporting to more than 70 countries from all three continents for Maruti, Hyundai, Tata, Fiat, General Motors, Mitsubishi and Volkswagon models. The company has five brands including Apollo - global brand catering to vehicles across categories, Vredestien - a global niche brand for passenger cars Dunlop - brand for 32 African countries across vehicle categories; Kaizen global challenger brand for truck tyres; Maloya - global challenger brand for passenger car tyres; Regal - global brand for truck, bus and passenger car tyres.