Page 26 - Retreading Business N104 2023-1
P. 26
HIGHWAY TYRE FOCUSES ON EXPANDING MARKET COVERAGE Gaurav Maroo Udaipur based retreader Highway Tyre Retread Pvt Ltd is looking to expand its market outreach by working with part- ners and agents in areas outside its core area in order to ex- pand its market share. “We hope to appoint like-minded agents who provide as well as stock our tyres by the end of year,” informed Gau- rav Maroo, Managing Director, Highway Tyre Retread. The company retreads about 4,000 tyres annually, almost 50% mining tyres. “We have considerable clientele in the mining sector, and the segment also offers growth potential but rising transportation cost is a major issue,” informed Maroo. “Competition in the TBR segment is high, but OTR retreading and specifically earthmo- ver tyre retreading remains lucrative.” The company’s manufacturing plant is located on the main highway that goes to Ahmedabad, but mining areas are in be- tween 100-150 km from the plant. “The mineral and stone qua- rries are far away and bringing tyres from those areas to the si- te involves high transportation costs,” he explained. “If the tyres are in a bigger lot, it is viable to bring and deliver them back, but it is difficult to offer the same service for only a few tyres.” Highway Tyre is now focusing increasingly on providing stock stock. The company buys good quality old casings, retread and sell them in the market. The new model aims to allow the com- pany to serve even the smallest customers in far-off areas. “With increasing tyre prices, smaller fleet owners prefer to buy good quality stock retreads over buying a new tyre,” says Ma- roo. “Small fleet operators are finding it really difficult to sus- tain post covid, hence the uptick in the sale of stock retreads, as this helps to reduce the cost of a tyre by as much as 50%.” Highway retreads truck and smaller LCV tyres by the cold pro- cess, while all the larger off-the-road tyres are manufactured by the traditional hot process. The company uses tread rubber
