Tyre maker Ceat has unveiled its FY26 growth strategy, under which it looks to boost market share in the car and truck tyre segments and double its export revenue while seeking to maintain leadership in the two-wheeler tyre segment.
The company claims to have a leadership position in the two-wheeler tyre segment with a market share of about 28 per cent, up from about 26 per cent in FY19 amid challenging market conditions. It bets on premiumisation to further grow its share. In the two-wheeler tyre category, the revenue contribution from premium range products has grown from 13 per cent in FY19 to about 23 per cent in FY23, according to the company’s investor presentation.
Ceat has made significant strides in the EV segment. It has penetrated deeply into the electric two-wheeler OEM space and claims to have a market share of more than 40 per cent. “We were one of the first tyre brands to roll out an EV-specific tyre range across all vehicle segments. We worked closely with leading OEMs, especially with two-wheeler OEMs, to become market leaders in 2-W EV space and become the first EV tyre to be approved by an OEM in the commercial EV space,” Anant Goenka, Vice Chairman of the company, said in the annual report.
The ₹11,315-crore company sees opportunities to further grow its market share by 4 per cent in the two-wheeler tyre space, supported by a higher focus on premium motorcycles, a growing presence in the EV space and better penetration in the southern region. “Going forward, the company plans to cover all niche segments such as adventure biking, Moto GP version, etc. Ceat charges a 2-3 per cent premium when compared with its next peer,” says a report by Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
In the passenger vehicle tyre segment, its market share grew to about 15 per cent in FY23 from about 11 per cent in FY19. However, it is still 3-4 per cent lower than the market leader. As part of its Vision FY26 plan, the company aims to grab a leadership position by improving its share to 18-19 per cent. In the SUV segment, it claims a market share of 20-25 per cent. In this space too, the share of the premium range has grown from 9 per cent in FY19 to 28 per cent in FY23.
In the truck and bus radial (TBR) tyre category, the company has a market share of 7 per cent and aims to increase to 11-12 per cent by FY26.
Ceat has also seen good growth in its export revenues in the past 4 years — from ₹1,000 crore to ₹2,000 crore, which is about 18 per cent of its overall revenue. The company’s aspiration is to double the export revenue to ₹4,000 crore by FY26, supported by an improvement in global demand, increase in sales of OHT (off-highway tyres) and penetration into more markets.
Ceat is present in 25 countries in Europe and 14 countries in Latin America. It is planning to expand to the US with the proposed launch of car/SUV and TBR products by the end of FY24. It has already successfully tested its TBR product.
In FY23, it produced more than 45 million tyres with average capacity utilisation across all plants being 80 per cent. The company is likely to incur a capex of ₹700-750 crore in this fiscal. The company spent 1.5 per cent of the turnover on R&D in FY23.