Industry Tyre Founded 1909, Netherlands | Number of employees 1,800 | |
Products Tyres for car, agricultural and industrial applications and bicycles. Website www.apollovredestein.com CEO Mathias Heimann (Oct 2014–) | ||
Apollo Vredestein B.V. is a Netherlands-based tire manufacturer. In 2009, it was acquired by Apollo Tyres Ltd of India. Apollo Vredestein B.V. has its head office in Enschede, the Netherlands. It designs, manufactures and sells tyres under the Apollo and Vredestein brand names via offices in Europe and North America.
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Vredestein products include car tyres, tyres for agricultural and industrial applications, and bicycle tyres. A significant number of the car tyres are designed by the Italian design house Giugiaro Design. The brand is over 100 years old.
History
Emile Louis Constant Schiff became the owner of the Nederlandse Guttapercha Maatschappij in Delft, the forerunner of Apollo Vredestein, on 6 November 1908. In 1909, the company moved to Loosduinen and changed its name to NV Rubberfabriek Vredestein. The name Vredestein comes from the name of the farm Schiff bought in Loosduinen in 1909 and where he first started making rubber.
The company initially specialised in all kinds of rubber products, including shoe heels, tennis balls, floor covering, boots and indoor football balls.
On 13 September 1934, most of the factory in Loosduinen was lost in a fire. Reconstruction started immediately, and the bicycle tyre factory in Doetinchem was established in the same year.
In 1946, the NV Nederlandsch-Amerikaansche Autobanden-fabriek Vredestein was founded in Enschede, with the American company B.F. Goodrich owning just over 20% of the shares. A year later, Schiff laid the cornerstone of the plant in Enschede.
The growth of the company accelerated in 1962, when it merged with N.V. Rubberfabrieken Hevea in Raalte. In 1971, the company became wholly owned by B.F. Goodrich and Vredestein's products were soon finding their way to 125 different countries.
Under the influence of globalisation, in the 1970s the Vredestein brand increasingly came to focus on car, agricultural, industrial and two-wheeler tyres. The oil crisis prompted many mergers in the tyre industry during these years.
In 1976, the Dutch state took over 49% of the shares in Vredestein, and two per cent were obtained by the Stichting tot Voortzetting van Vredestein (Foundation for the Continuation of Vredestein). While the remaining 49% initially remained in the possession of B.F. Goodrich, they were later taken over by the Foundation for a symbolic sum. In the early 1990s, the company was acquired from the State by three Dutch investors.
A collaboration was established with the Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro in the late 1990s. Giugiaro Design designs high performance tyres for Vredestein.
In 2009, Vredestein was acquired by India's Apollo Tyres Ltd, and the company name was changed to Apollo Vredestein B.V. The bulk of production still takes place in Enschede.
In January 2013, Apollo Tyres Ltd announced the opening of its global R&D centre in Enschede, the Netherlands, that will develop and test car and van tyres for the company.
On 12 June 2013, Apollo Tyres Ltd announced the acquisition of Cooper Tire & Rubber Company. in a US$2.5 billion deal. This would have turned Apollo Tyre Ltd into the world’s seventh largest tyre company, with combined global revenue of an estimated US$6.6 billion, according to Tire Review data, but on 30 December 2013, the Cooper acquisition was called off.
Offices in the world
Apollo Vredestein B.V. has got offices in: