Taiwan-headquartered Maxxis Tyres is in the process “to further invest $100 million (Rs 822 crore) in the next five years.”
One of the youngest entrants in the Indian automotive space and with investment of around Rs 2,640 crore in the country already, it aims to capture 15 percent market share in the country. Despite the two-years of Covid-19 induced slowdown, it is now witnessing green shoots of recovery.
Tsang-Chih Chu, Director, Maxxis India in conversation with Express Mobility said that, “We (Maxxis Tyres) are still in a growth phase and we are happy to say that the response so far has been beyond expectations. I am happy to say that we are the OE partners to some of the world’s biggest OEM’s – Hero MotoCorp, Honda Motorcycles and Scooter India Limited, Yamaha Motor India and Suzuki Motorcycles. We want to take one step at a time and then move steadily.”
Maxxis Tyres is said to be one of the fastest growing tyre brands and the youngest in the top 10 tyre manufacturers globally. Its global product portfolio includes tyres for two- & four-wheelers, light trucks, trucks, buses, ATV’s and agricultural & industrial vehicles. At present in India, it manufactures two-wheeler tyres and tubes serving both OE and replacement market.
It’s manufacturing facility in Sanand spread across 106 acres can produce 20,000 tyres and 40,000 tubes per day. “Apart from catering to the domestic tyre market, the product portfolio from the Sanand facility will be exported to South Asia and will further expand to Africa and Middle East countries in the coming years,” added Chu.
The tyre maker plans to grow sustainably in the country and has already appointed over 2,000 dealers and plans to expand its network by 5-7 percent in the coming months.
“We recently achieved a significant milestone of 1 crore tyre sales across India. Currently, our portfolio covers 82% of the market’s users’ scenario and we plan to expand it to more than 90% in the following year. We are also going to launch products in cruiser/touring segment. Apart from this, we have put many products in new product development mode for electric vehicle segment along with others by looking at its potential in upcoming time which we are hopeful will help us to capture market share of 15% becoming one of the top five tyre manufactures in the world by 2026,” he shared.
When asked about the company’s expansion plan, he elaborated that Maxis Tyres India currently employs more than 600 people and is committed to expand it to 2,000 people in the coming years, “At present, we have used half of the land (106 acres) we got from the Gujarat government for the planned 60,000 units’ capacity. We have penetrated across all 29 states and 8 Union Territories of India and opened our first exclusive retail store in Goa in 2019 to meet the growing demands of our customers. In next 5 years, we plan to invest $100 million (Rs 822 crore) in key areas including new machinery, four-wheeler segment mainly PCR and acquisition of land beyond our current 106 acres capacity.” The tyremaker is also working on new alignments and partnerships with new OEMs for the two-wheeler market as well as expanding the portfolio for the replacement market.
Going forward it is closely studying the growing electric vehicle industry in India. “We are focusing on electric vehicles by introducing innovative technologies and features like Low Rolling Resistance. The major difference includes – EV tyres are designed for high starting torque compared to IC vehicle tyres. Additionally, EV tyres are better in traction as low-resistance compound goes in its making,” concluded Chu.
