Apollo Tyres enter the two-wheeler market in India
Apollo, the Indian tyre manufacturer, has decided to enter the two-wheeler tyres market in India with a range of motorcycle and scooter tyres. The new brand is called Apollo Acti and Apollo says the new range was created in-house at Apollo's R&D facility located in Chennai. India's massive two-wheeler market is a huge opportunity and Apollo announced its intention to attack 85 per cent of the replacement market.
The new Apollo Acti range, says Apollo, offer stable cornering performance and should be adept at braking in dry conditions as well as wet conditions. The Apollo Acti range will include both tubeless and tubed tyres - which means the Acti range will be able to cater from everything from 100cc commuters to larger machines. Apollo said that it does intend to be a full range player and once the initial range stabilise, Apollo will also offer radial tyres for larger motorcycles. The Apollo Acti tyres go on sale today in major Indian cities.
Apollo actiGRIP S4
Apollo actiZIP R3
The background to the move according to Apollo was a combination of the growth of the two-wheeler market and pressure from its business partners to enter this massive volume space. MRF currently rules the two-wheeler segment with Ceat and TVS being amongst the other players in the market. Apollo currently targets 2.2 lakh units of tyres in monthly production initially, ramping up to 5 lakh units within the next two years.
