Chennai, Apr 14 (IANS): India's automobile tyre major Apollo Tyres Ltd will ship its commercial vehicle tyres for the US and Canadian markets out of its Chennai and Hungary plants.

Apollo Tyres will sell the truck and bus tyres in the US and Canada under the Apollo brand.

The company is already present in the passenger vehicle tyres segment in the US and Canadian market under the brand Vredestein.

"Apollo's North American range of truck-bus tyres will be produced in its state-of-the-art manufacturing units in Hungary and Chennai, India, which boast the capacity and technical expertise needed to ensure a steady supply of tyres to this market," the company said.

The Apollo truck tyre line-up will encompass a full range of regional, super-regional, coach/urban and mixed-use applications with fitments for rims ranging from 17.5 inches to 24.5 inches.

According to Apollo, 13 shop keeping units (SKU) are planned for this year and will be increased to 23 SKUs by the second half of 2022. By 2024, the total number of SKUs will be 45 covering 90 per cent of the market place.

Apollo Tyres said that prior to the launch, the tyres were tested on a fleet service with a US waste-removal/haulage operation to benchmark against Tier I competition across multiple retread cycles.

"We come to market positioned to make an immediate impact by offering a tier I value proposition at a more attractive price, while setting new industry standards for service and support," claimed Abhishek Bisht, Assistant Vice President, Americas, Apollo Tyres.