Apollo Tyres has re-set its course in the wake of the collapse of the Cooper deal. The primary ambition remains getting into the top-10 global tire makers, but the tactics of how to get there have changed. TIRes head of research, David Shaw spoke to Apollo CEO, Neeraj Kanwar at the Geneva Auto Salon earlier
Category: Strategic
Notes from Geneva 2014
As always, the Geneva Motor Show 2014 was a great place to meet people. Neeraj Kanwar of Apollo told me that despite some newspaper reports to the contrary, he does not rule out working in China at some stage in the future. In common with Continental, Hankook, Kumho, Goodyear and others, however, he says Apollo
The iFlex – what it says about the Hankook brand
Hankook is the latest tire maker to produce a concept tire which relies on mechanical strength of plastic materials to carry load, rather than pneumatic pressure. The iFlex was shown at the Frankfurt IAA. I chatted with the engineers and their story was a little different from that which has been trumpeted by other publications.
IQPC’s Intelligent Tire Technology scheduled for 25-27 Sept in Düsseldorf
IQPC has anounced the ninth annual conference on intelligent tire technology. The conference will be on 25-27th of September 2013. Experts from around Europe will be at the conference talking about advancements in tire technology. Material selection for optimising performance, state of the art tire sensor technology and how to save resources and time will
Has Apollo Tyres bitten off more than it can chew
Stock markets have punished Apollo Tyres for its audacity in daring to seal the biggest overseas deal in India’s corporate history – the acquisition of US-based Cooper Tire and Rubber. The share price of Apollo has fallen by around one third since the deal was announced. I’m trying to work out if this is justified
Apollo’s acquisition of Cooper demonstrates global vision
Apollo Tyres is to buy Cooper Tire and Rubber. The cash purchase price is around USD2.5 billion (USD 2,500,000,000). That’s about 60 percent of annual sales. Quite a low price for this kind of deal. Apollo statement | Cooper statement My own view is that Apollo has done well to finally negotiate this one. I
EU Tire Label questioned at tire conference
A conference in Berlin has crystallised an intense debate about the EU Tire Label. The event, organised by Marcus Evans Events took place on Tuesday and Wednesday this week (16, 17 April). It is still too early to say anything about the success or otherwise of the EU Tire Label. Early indications suggest that there
Tire manufacturing in Europe
Tire manufacturing in Europe is going through something of a crisis. In January Goodyear announced the closure of its factory in Amiens-North. Last month Bridgestone announced the closure of its factory in Bari, Italy. None of this has provoked much debate Rumours that Michelin will reduce its output, however have triggered a string of comment
Tire stories from Geneva Auto Salon
Three key stories emerged from the opening day of the Geneva Motor Show. ETRMA members met in Geneva and agreed to work together to help governments enforce the EU Labelling scheme Tire makers see the EU car tire sales downturn as structural – no recovery any time soon. BMW once again leads the OE field
Michelin Shenyang factory is on-stream
Michelin has opened the first phase of its new factory in Shenyang, China. The project is huge. Total investment is scheduled to be US$1500 million (1,500,000,000). It will make many kinds of tire, including the cars tires, light truck tires, truck and bus tires. Total capacity will be 12 million units/year. This is projected to

