Equipment World took the opportunity during a recent tour of BKT Industries’ massive new tire plant in Bhuj, India, to sit down with Rajiv Poddar, BKT joint managing director, and discuss present opportunities and future moves.
The $500 million plant in Bhuj has 72 acres under roof and features a 25-acre outdoor test track. It will house a 30,000-square-foot research and development center later this year.
Equipment World: How do you distinguish yourself in the North American market?
Poddar: We have been providing agricultural tires in the United States for almost 10 years and we enjoy a 14 to 16 percent market share in that segment. We want to grow our construction and mining segment to similar levels in the near future. We might not have the cheapest tires, but we will be competitive while delivering quality tires to our customers in the U.S. market.
To continue our support of the U.S. market, we will work through best-in-class dealers. We do not plan on selling directly to end users, and we will never compete with our independent dealers.
At the beginning of this decade, we set a strategic objective to achieve leadership in the worldwide off-highway tire market. Our Bhuj plant has enabled us to play a completely new game from the perspective of exponential growth.
EQW: Are you seeing any tire demand issues developing in North America or globally?
