Apollo Tyres establishes a global research and development structure

qiangzi

Friday, May 25, 2012

Kerala, India - Apollo Tyres has restructured its research and development team, across its three key geographies, to create synergy and greater alignment to the company’s growth aspirations; and to generate speed and relevance while entering new markets. This comes soon after a clear decision at the management level to increase Apollo’s focus on core research and a substantial increase in R&D spending over the next few years. The new structure links the entire organization along two critical product lines of commercial and personal vehicle tires. Neeraj Kanwar, vice chairman and managing director, Apollo Tyres, said, “We have merged our research and development resources of nearly 250 individuals from Africa, Europe and India, under the leadership of two of our finest experts. While commercial and personal vehicle tire development and testing will be located in India and The Netherlands, respectively, smaller teams across key markets will work on customizing each global product to market requirements and testing under local conditions.” P.K. Mohamed, chief advisor, Apollo Tyres, will lead the commercial vehicle (CV) tire division, which will be housed on the same campus as the Chennai manufacturing facility; while Peter Snel, group head, Apollo Tyres, will spearhead the passenger vehicle (PV) tire unit, from a new facility being set up in Enschede, The Netherlands.