The board of Apollo Tyres NL BV has submitted a Request for Advice to the Work’s Council on the intended decision to discontinue the tyre production and production related activities at the plant in Enschede, The Netherlands by the summer of 2026. All staff have been informed accordingly in a town hall meeting.
This intended decision comes after thorough investigation and careful consideration and is driven by the continued increase in costs of Apollo Tyres NL (ATNL) due to macro-economic disruptions, steep increases in energy and labour costs, and a decline in demand for Spacemaster and Agri tyres. These, together with pricing pressure from low-cost competitors, make the manufacturing at ATNL uncompetitive. Unfortunately, the high cost situation is expected to continue, therefore long-term profitable production at Enschede is not in any way feasible.
“Submitting the Request for Advice to the Work’s Council on the intended decision to discontinue production has been enormously difficult”, said Benoit Rivallant, President, ATNL. “In the last couple of years, we have implemented several initiatives to reduce costs at Enschede. These initiatives resulted in some savings but most of these were completely negated due to the ever-increasing inflation. After thorough investigation we saw no other option than to recommend the discontinuation of the production activities at Enschede as the Management Board of Apollo Tyres NL BV.”
“We take our obligations toward our employees and the Work Council very seriously. We have engaged with them in line with these obligations and will continue to do so. We will also be in communication with customers, suppliers and other parties across the value chain and will continue to do business as usual. There is no change in our working relationship, and we continue to focus on providing exceptional customer service. The execution of the intended decision is subject to completion of the Works Council consultation process and supervisory board approval.”
Apollo Tyres NL BV is a Dutch manufacturer of pneumatic tyres for cars and agricultural vehicles. The company is based in Enschede and part of Apollo Tyres Ltd, which is headquartered in Gurugram, India and is one of the leading tyre manufacturers worldwide.