Apollo Tyres has confirmed Hungary as the location for its first Greenfield facility in Gyöngyöshalász, after receiving the necessary approval from its Board of Directors. The company said Hungary was chosen after a consideration of various factors over some of the neighboring Central Eastern European and Asian countries. Apollo Tyres said it will invest 475 million euros over the next five years to setup this facility in the new industrial zone near Gyöngyöshalász, Hungary. When the European Commission green-lighted stated aid for the project, Apollo was said to be investing EUR 442.2 million in the project. The Hungarian state will support the project by providing a direct grant of EUR 48.2 million, an employment grant of EUR 2.8 million and tax allowances of around EUR 44.7 million. Once completed, the plant will have a capacity to produce 5.5 million passenger car and light truck (PCLT) tires and 675,000 heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) tires per year. This facility will produce both, Apollo and Vredestein branded tyres, and will cater to the entire European market, and will complement Apollo Tyres’ existing facility in the Netherlands.

"This investment would be a significant milestone in the company’s international growth journey," commented Neeraj Kanwar, vice chairman and managing director, Apollo Tyres Ltd. "Apollo’s Hungarian investment is an important step in the re-industrialization of Hungary," added Péter Szijjártó, parliamentary state secretary to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade. The chosen site is less than 100 kilometers from Budapest, with various OEM manufacturers as potential customers being close by. The company will soon start the process of applying for necessary permissions and licenses to setup the facility. Similarly, the process towards Environmental Impact Assessment will be started soon. The construction of this plant is expected to start in the spring of 2015 and the first tire is likely to roll out in early 2017. The new facility is to create 975 jobs directly, the majority of which would be hired locally, Kanwar noted. Currently, Apollo Tyres has four manufacturing units in India, three in southern Africa and one in the Netherlands. The combined production capacity of all facilities put together is 1,700 metric tons per day.

Source: rubberworld.com