General Tyre invests Rs500m in motorcycle tyre plant
Company to tap spare parts market in first phase.
“Due to unfair competition, it becomes extremely hard for us to expand and at the same time make only marginal profits of 2% to 2.5%,” says GT chairperson.
KARACHI:
General Tyre (GT) has invested Rs500 million in motorcycle tyre production and plant enhancement, which will also create job opportunities, GT Chief Executive Shahid Hussain revealed during a press conference at the Sheraton hotel on Friday.
“Had this company not existed, the Government of Pakistan would have had to spend more than $200 million annually on the import of the number of tyres produced by GT alone,” GT Chairperson Lt Gen (retd) Ali Kuli Khan Khattak said in the ceremony.
“Importers would have taken advantage of the situation and wreaked further havoc on our country’s fragile economy,” he added.
He said that tyre manufacturing is an expensive and tedious process, which requires a lot of funds to continually expand. “Due to unfair competition, it becomes extremely hard for us to expand and at the same time make only marginal profits of 2% to 2.5%,” he said.
“Pakistan is passing through a critical phase, owing to which many industries have either been shut down or shifted to other countries. We, on the contrary, decided to break this trend and have invested a good amount of money in putting up an ultra-modern motorcycle tyre and tube manufacturing plant,” he added.
Hussain said the company will get into the large motorcycle parts replacement market in the first phase, and then approach selected assembly plants to be one of their suppliers in the next phase.
“We have ensured that grip, style and fuel economy is built into each tyre, as our survey revealed that grip was the most important factor motorcyclists care about. Our tyres have low rolling resistance, which means more kilometres per litre,” he said.
Dr W Flamm, a technical adviser to Continental AG, also spoke on the occasion and said Continental AG has a long term association with GT and will continue to support the company. He also said Continental AG is happy that GT is expanding and has now entered into this field.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 23rd, 2013.
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General Tyre (GT) has invested Rs500 million in motorcycle tyre production and plant enhancement, which will also create job opportunities, GT Chief Executive Shahid Hussain revealed during a press conference at the Sheraton hotel on Friday.
“Had this company not existed, the Government of Pakistan would have had to spend more than $200 million annually on the import of the number of tyres produced by GT alone,” GT Chairperson Lt Gen (retd) Ali Kuli Khan Khattak said in the ceremony.
“Importers would have taken advantage of the situation and wreaked further havoc on our country’s fragile economy,” he added.
He said that tyre manufacturing is an expensive and tedious process, which requires a lot of funds to continually expand. “Due to unfair competition, it becomes extremely hard for us to expand and at the same time make only marginal profits of 2% to 2.5%,” he said.
“Pakistan is passing through a critical phase, owing to which many industries have either been shut down or shifted to other countries. We, on the contrary, decided to break this trend and have invested a good amount of money in putting up an ultra-modern motorcycle tyre and tube manufacturing plant,” he added.
Hussain said the company will get into the large motorcycle parts replacement market in the first phase, and then approach selected assembly plants to be one of their suppliers in the next phase.
“We have ensured that grip, style and fuel economy is built into each tyre, as our survey revealed that grip was the most important factor motorcyclists care about. Our tyres have low rolling resistance, which means more kilometres per litre,” he said.
Dr W Flamm, a technical adviser to Continental AG, also spoke on the occasion and said Continental AG has a long term association with GT and will continue to support the company. He also said Continental AG is happy that GT is expanding and has now entered into this field.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 23rd, 2013.
Like Business on Facebook to stay informed and join in the conversation.