Michelin has signed a commercial agreement with Ashok Leyland to supply its X Guard range of radial truck tyres, which offer gains in the form of improved fuel efficiency and optimized payload, for Ashok Leyland’s Captain 3718 Plus commercial vehicles.

To cater for this increased demand from both the replacement market and original equipment manufacturers in the country, Michelin today inaugurated a new state-of-the-art production line for the X Guard range of tyres in its Chennai plant.

The new production line will help double the current capacity of the plant by 2018.  The Michelin X Guard range of radial truck and bus tyres, which offers up to  10 percent fuel savings, is exclusively designed, engineered and made for India.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the new production line, Jean-Dominique Senard, CEO of the Michelin Group, said: “India is a priority market for us and the growing demand for our products in the country reaffirms our commitment to keep innovating for our customers here. In a very short time, our Chennai plant has evolved to become one of our most advanced manufacturing facilities globally. The purpose of this plant was to cater to the needs to the Indian market and I am happy to see that we are on target in this journey. The Michelin X Guard was conceived to address the Indian market’s need for a tyre that is fuel efficient, safe and lasts longer and to this end we adapted the very best of Michelin technologies to produce a premium tyre at an affordable price.”

Vinod K Dasari, CEO and managing director, Ashok Leyland said: “We are pleased to partner Michelin for our latest range of 37T trucks. The Michelin X Guard radial tyres provide us tremendous fuel efficiency, helping us offer a differentiated product in this segment.  It is heartening to see the new tyre developed using Michelin’s world-class innovations right here in India.”

According to Michelin, the X Guard range benefits from the latest advances in 3D printing, which is used to produce the tyre moulds: As a result, Regenion technology is integrated which regenerates new grooves as the tyre wears, ensuring it retains excellent grip right until the very last mile. The performance of this tyre also benefits from another technology: InfiniCoil, a several hundred-metre-long thin wire wrapped round the tyre structure giving it added robustness without extra weight, while delivering up to 10 percent fuel savings.