In an informal chat with MOTORINDIA on the sidelines of the recent meet organised by the Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce in Chennai, Mr. K.M. Mammen, MRF Chairman & Managing Director, said the company is indeed very fortunate in maintaining its successful track record year after year. Despite the current recession, all the six manufacturing plants of the company are working in full swing. Even though MRF was aiming for a Rs. 6,000-crore turnover in 2008 itself, it could not achieve it for various reasons, mainly labour unrest. However, it still retains its tyre market leadership.
According to Mr. Mammen, among the various factors that drive the company growth is its brand pull. The MRF products always remain the first and preferred choice of every vehicle owner in the country mainly because of the company’s aggressive marketing approach making the brand world popular. Only when MRF products are not available, do customers go in for other brands.
Referring to the current scenario, he said the tyre industry is now ‘retired’ because of the various problems it is facing. The industry has already been hit hard by the frequent rise in raw material costs. Another major problem facing the industry now relates to logistics. The slowdown in the manufacturing sector as a whole as a result of the current global recession has its adverse impact on transport of men and material, which has come down significantly. Reduced movement of vehicles meant lower replacement of tyres.
