Company president Amit Chaturvedi who was in Chennai to promote the newly launched Ultima-XP radial tyres says his brief is clear: to enable the company stay ahead by aggressive marketing, launch new products and take on ensuing competition from multinational companies.

The company which clocked Rs 1600 crore sales turnover last year of which Rs 200 crore came from exports to 60 different countries is hoping to increase its current market share of 24 per cent in tyres to around 30 per cent quickly.

The Indian tyre market size is estimated to be two lakh tyres a month and taking an average cost of Rs 1000 per tyre, the fight is on to take a large size of the Rs 20 crore per month market.

Chaturvedi who has recently taken charge as President of the company says his priority is to strengthen the brand. And that is being attempted in various ways.

For one thing, besides launching advanced technology products like Ultima-XP which is talked about as an "intelligent tyre" which is lighter and offers better riding comfort for the customer, the company is gearing to launch coloured tyres for the first time in the country. The coloured version of tyres has been developed using advanced technology replacing carbon black, the key raw material that goes into making tyres. The new compounds that are added in place of carbon black are said to be eco-friendly and non-polluting. Besides adding literally colour to the tyres, the new technology has aided in substantially reducing the 'rolling resistance' which in turn helps to reduce fuel consumption. Coloured tyres of JK Tyres will match colours of the cars, company officials say.

Brand building is also done through participating on motor sports. The company has opned six state of the art go Karting centres in India with another four planned to be set up within the next year. At last week's Go Karting rally in Chennai captains of industry participated adding glamour to the event. Plans are also underway to strengthen the company's "steel wheel" dealer units from existing 65 to 125 by October this year. Another initiative taken by the company, according to marketing director S Rangarajan, is to ensure dealer loyalty by standardising dealer credit and discount policies by being open and transparent. Also very intensive consumer campaign for all types of tyres has been launched including OEMs to whom volume supplies are made.

JK Tyres is also intending to focus on two-wheeler tyre segment and is examining the option seriously. Entering this segment has been on and off for the last three years, but, as Rangarajan says, it has become essential to give the dealers a full range of products and thus satisfy the customers. Also with MNCs entering the tyre segment, it has become imperative to have an edge over them and the two-wheeler segment could well give the company the cushion it needs to face up the challenges of the times.

According to Rangarajan the foray into two-wheeler segment may entail an investment of Rs 40-50 crore to upgrade plant facilities and another Rs 10 crore by way of ad promotions.