Apollo Tyres currently lays claim to a 30% share of India’s commercial vehicle radial market and to accommodate the after sale needs of its customers is establishing 50 "Apollo Radial Service Assistance" (ARSA) centers throughout the country.
On April 4 the tiremaker opened the first such center in Jaipur, a region with a level of radialization far above the national average.
“For radial tires, from fitment to maintenance to tracking performance parameters, all are critical,” commented Naresh Singhal, the first ARSA dealer.
“For so long, no one was providing this critical service to our customers. Now with Apollo Tyres’ trained manpower at my dealership, I will be able to take better care of radial users in Jaipur. It’s a service which could become a game changer in this growing segment.”
Over the course of the year Apollo Tyres plans to train and equip over 50 of its business partners to enable them to provide this service. In announcing its plans, the tiremaker notes that commercial vehicle radialization levels in the past five years have grown from 3% to 16% and are expected to reach 20% in the next year. In northern India, Apollo estimates that in 2011-12, Jaipur will lead in commercial vehicle tire radialization with a 36% rate, followed by Sriganganagar and Bhilwara, while the state of Rajasthan will reach 25%.
“Through ARSA, the idea is to provide the customer with a value-added service which allows him to take care of his tires, but most importantly to enable him to extract a better cost per kilometer,” said Rajesh Dahiya, group head of sales and marketing for Apollo Tyres. “When fleet operators buy radials they are making an investment and we need to work alongside them to help them realize value out of this technology investment. And Jaipur is an ideal location to begin.”
The tiremaker adds that by the end of the year its Chennai plant will produce 6,000 of its Endurace truck-bus radials per day. (Tyres & Accessories)