After making its presence felt in Thailand and Indonesia, Apollo Tyres has set up an office in Malaysia, which is the third largest automotive market in the ASEAN region.

Satish Sharma, president, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA region), Apollo Tyres, inaugurated the company’s Malaysian office in the presence of select business partners and company officials.

Subsequent to setting up its sales and distribution hub in Bangkok for the ASEAN region, the Indian tyre major has been increasingly focusing on expanding its footprint in South East Asia. The company is targeting a bigger share of the pie in the Malaysian replacement tyre market, which has an annual capacity of 580,000 truck-bus radials and 9.5 million passenger car tyres. Apollo Tyres says it is building a complete team of sales and service personnel to service the Malaysian customers.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Malaysian office, Satish Sharma said, “Over the past 2-3 years, we have been making steady inroads into the Malaysian market as this is a pivotal market for our growth in the region. Our product range fits well with the Malaysian consumer requirements and with the support of our key distribution and retail partners in Malaysia, we have been able to penetrate most of the key replacement tyre market segments. Now that we have a foothold in Malaysia, we believe it is the perfect time to step up our focus in this market with the establishment of the Apollo Tyres’ Malaysian subsidiary.”

With one of the best road infrastructures in the entire ASEAN region, Malaysia has above 90% radialisation levels in the commercial vehicle segment. Apollo Tyres, with its Endurance range of truck-bus radials, which has already received high acceptance from Malaysian customers, is keen to further establish the Apollo brand at the top tier of the truck-bus radials market. Similarly, Apollo’s passenger car tyres portfolio is capable of servicing nearly 90% of the Malaysian car tyre market, which is currently, one of the largest in the ASEAN region.

“The setting up of this office, and a legal entity, in addition to accelerating our revenue growth in this market, will also bring us closer to the Malaysian customers and help us better meet their requirements across the entire spectrum of applications,” added Sharma.