SEMA Show, Day Three: Vredestein CEO discusses life under Apollo

After several years under the ownership of Russian tiremaker Amtel, Vredestein Banden B.V. is happy to now march under the Apollo Tyres Ltd. banner, Vredestein CEO Rob Oudshoorn told www.moderntiredealer.com at this week's Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show.

Apollo, based in India, acquired Vredestein from the bankrupt Amtel earlier this year.

The companies already are sharing technology and manufacturing expertise and will soon conjoin marketing efforts on a global scale, said Ourdshoorn.

"It is Apollo's ambition to become a global brand." However, the company, which is India's largest overall tiremaker, "is not in a hurry to bring Apollo brand tires to the U.S. We have to make sure we have the capacity" to satisfy the demands of the large North American market.

Meanwhile, Vredestein, whose North American office is based in New Jersey, will continue to follow its present strategy in the U.S. "We're not going for big volumes with the Vredestein brand." (Oudshoorn told www.moderntiredealer.com that Vredestein ships around 100,000 units to the U.S. each year, all of them manufactured in The Netherlands.)

"We are aiming for the top spot in quality and price. We're not interested in competing with the mainstream."

The 2009 SEMA Show ends tomorrow, Nov. 6.