The Hindu Business Line : JK Tyre now betting high on radialisation

With the pace of radialisation set to increase in the coming days, the company has now decided to appoint exclusive dealers for marketing its truck radials. Currently, only 2 per cent of the commercial tyre segment is radialised.

The company has also decided to increase the number of its `JK Tyre Care Centres' to 20 by the end of this year. These centres are being created for servicing the truck and bus radials manufactured by the company.

"We now have 14 tyre care centres for servicing our truck and bus radials. Our truck radials need special skills for servicing, as they are steel radials. By 2006-07, we plan to have about 70-80 such centres", Mr Arun K Bajoria, President, JK Tyre, told Business Line.

The move to increase the number of tyre care centres is seen as an attempt to improve the "servicing infrastructure" for truck and bus radial tyres. A number of original equipment commercial vehicle manufacturers are looking for such infrastructure before they agree to accept truck radials for original fitment in their vehicles, an industry insider pointed out.

JKI, which has the first mover advantage in manufacture of truck radials in the country, has also embarked on a new marketing initiative by the name of `Customer Partnership for Prosperity', to increase the usage of radial tyres in commercial vehicles. Mr Bajoria said that the programme would be in the nature of a hand holding exercise. "Under this programme, we will be adopting high profile customers whose fleets can be radialised. We will be managing their fleets. We will also demonstrate to them the benefits of using truck radials in terms of mileage, fuel savings and lower down time", Mr Ajai Kapila, Marketing Director, JKI, said.

The company would also provide the software for maintenance of records. "Our marketing of truck radials would rest on the plank of selling the benefits of a technology. Instead of selling them as tyres built under radial technology, we would focus on the benefit that a customer would get by using radial tyres - lower cost per kilometre to the customer", Mr Kapila said.

Asked about increased competition in truck radials that would come from Michelin Apollo Tyres Pvt Ltd in the coming years, Mr Bajoria held that "any competition in this segment was welcome as it would help in faster radialisation of the market".