Chennai, June 11: Ceat, a part of the RPG Enterprise, is planning to set up a production facility to manufacture truck radial tyres at an investment of around Rs 200-250 crore. The tyre manufacturing company is also investing around Rs 75-80 crore to expand its capacity for passenger car radial tyres. Talking to mediapersons, Kalyan K Paul, vice president (sales and marketing), said, “We plan to set up the facility (radial truck tyres) over the next two to three years. The initial capacity is planned at 50,000 to 60,000 units per month.”

He said Ceat had imported truck radial tyres from China to test market and undertake market study during ‘03-04. The first consignment, which commenced two months back, consisted of only 300-350 tyres.
Though the life (number of months in use) of radial tyres for trucks is expected to last 35-40% longer, company officials said the tyres would cost 15-20% more. Development in the road infrastructure is cited as a major reason for possible shift to truck radial tyres. Bureau Report