Michelin Chief Executive Officer Florent Menegaux recently said that the company is actively considering production of passenger vehicle tyres locally in India. Talking to PTI, Menegaux said the group sees India as a great developing market.
As per the agency report, he stated that the company is eager to invest in the local production of passenger vehicle tyres in India and the only thing which needs to be worked out is the timing for the same.
"Now we are reaching the moment where it will make sense to invest in the passenger car capacity (in India)," Menegaux noted.
The Frech tyre maker has presence in 175 countries with 67 plants. It currently sells only premium bigger size tyres in limited quantity especially for performance oriented models in India. The local manufacturing will help in scaling up operations in India, which remain critically subdued with the government introducing import restrictions in 2020.
Michelin currently has presence in the truck and bus radial tyres in India. It has a production facility in Chennai with an installed capacity of over 30,000 tonnes per annum.
The facility is currently focussed on manufacturing a range of radial truck/bus tyres and defence tyres for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) as well as for the replacement market in the country.
Michelin also gets two-wheeler tyres manufactured in the country through a partner.
Indian government in 2020 imposed curbs on imports of certain new pneumatic tyres used in motor cars, busses, lorries and motorcycles in a move to promote domestic manufacturing. Tyre companies can now import only a small number of tyres into the country under a limited import licence, which was not the case before 2020.
During the PTI interaction, Menegaux said that as the company has presence across the globe it needs to carefully evaluate investment options across the regions.
"We invest in many places around the world so the question is when is the right time for India. It is not a question whether we should invest in India, the question is when," said.
On asked specifically about the timeframe for the new investment, he said: “It is under the process right now."
"With proper infrastructure in place the speed (of vehicles on roads) will increase and the relevance of our technology will be even more visible," he said.
Commenting about the government putting restrictions on imported tyres in India, Menegaux said “We had developed a good market in the passenger car segment with imports which is the traditional way of doing business. Everywhere we start by importing up to a point where we reach a certain volume and then we implement production."
(With inputs from PTI)