May 2, 2013: With an aim to aggressively drive sales in the ASEAN region, Apollo Tyres has opened a sales office in Bangkok, with Thailand as the operational hub. The company says this region will be catered to by exports from India. After Dubai for the Middle East, this is the second hub outside the company’s operations in India, The Netherlands and South Africa. The ASEAN region, which has become one of Apollo’s strongest export markets, currently accounts for more than 40 percent of its exports revenue and has doubled in the past three years.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Bangkok office, Satish Sharma, chief, Zone I, Apollo Tyres, said: “We are currently in our second phase of expansion. In the last few years, due to high customer satisfaction, the demand and acceptability of our tyres has increased manifold in the ASEAN region. We are looking at the Bangkok office to serve as a hub for an active sales and service team. This will allow us to meet customer expectations with greater ease and speed. Moreover, our entire range of tyres, tuned to this market, combined with our service proposition, will help us create a strong bond with our existing and new customers across the region.”
The ASEAN market is currently sees sales of six million commercial vehicle replacement tyres. The fastest growing segment though is the 22.6 million units a year passenger vehicle tyre market. Apollo Tyres sells its range of passenger vehicle, 4x4, commercial and off-highway tyres in the ASEAN region.
The company’s global operations are divided into three divisions (Zone I, E and A). Zone I, which includes India, Middle East, ASEAN and the Asia Pacific region, is Apollo Tyres’ largest revenue earner and accounts for 67 percent of the company’s US$ 2.5 billion/Rs 13,422 crore (FY12) turnover. Shubhro Ghosh, Head, ASEAN, Apollo Tyres, will be be responsible for the operations in this region.
The tyres for this region are produced at Apollo’s four plants in India, including a state-of-the-art automated unit in the southern city of Chennai. The company has targeted double-digit growth for exports in the next few years.
Photograph (L-R): Rohit Arora, head - marketing commercial, India Operations; Shubhro Ghosh, Head, ASEAN; Satish Sharma, chief, Zone I; and Shailendra Naidu, head - marketing and sales, ASEAN, at the inauguration of the Bangkok office.