Apollo entering Qatar tyre market

Apollo Tyres has announced plans to enter the growing Qatar tyre market in the Middle East region. According to the company, the market entry was marked with a product introduction to the Business Partners in Qatar, in the presence of Indian Ambassador to Qatar, H E Shri Sanjeev Arora, late evening yesterday.

The latest move is said to be part of the company’s strategy to enter newer markets across geographies. While Dubai was set-up as the hub for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region two years back, the tyres for these markets are imported from both India and Europe.

In the passenger vehicle tyre category, Apollo Tyres is aiming to capitalise on increasing automobile sales, rising per capita income and implementation of strict tyre quality rules in Qatar. Apollo reports that the import dependent tyre industry in Qatar, is one of the most promising automobile markets, after Saudi Arabia, in the Middle East region. Apollo says it would target the 50,000 to 55,000 passenger car tyres per month market, with its high performing 4G range of tyres, which includes Aspire 4G, Alnac 4G and Amazer 4G. The company also plans to introduce Vredestein moving forward.

There are also plans to import commercial vehicle tyres. Qatar, which is mostly a truck radial market, would see the introduction of the Apollo Endurace range of truck-bus radials. As per Apollo estimates, the market has a potential of nearly 20,000 truck-bus tyres per month, of which, 80 per cent would be radials.

In the next few months, Apollo Tyres plans to move into more such markets in the MENA region.