MUMBAI, India — Apollo Tyres Ltd. will ramp up production at its recently opened plant in Hungary, expecting to reach 16,000 passenger tires a day by the second half of its fiscal year 2019.
In an Aug. 7 conference call to discuss the first quarter of its fiscal 2018, Chief Financial Officer Gaurav Kumar said the first truck tire, however, is not expected to be produced before the 2019 financial year.
In terms of product mix at the Hungary plant, Mr. Kumar said supplies to OEM cusotomers already have started, but he declined to give further specifics or names.
"And going forward, those numbers will increase as we are looking to get into more OEMs as part of our overall strategy," he added.
According to the CFO, Apollo expects the Hungary plant to stabilize by the final quarter of the current financial year, ending March 2018.
The Indian tire maker in April opened its $505 million production plant in Gyongyoshalasz, Hungary, which will have the capacity to produce 5.5 million passenger and light truck tires and 675,000 commercial vehicle tires per year once Phase I is complete. It will produce both Apollo- and Vredestein-brand tires for the European market.