The 2014 CEAT Dealer Convention took place at the Swiss Garden Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, as part of a three-day visit to Malaysia organised by CEAT Kelani Holdings in appreciation of the contribution of these dealers to the company’s achievement of sales of Rs 11 billion in 2013-14.
Addressing dealers at this gala event, CEAT Kelani Chairman Chanaka de Silva said the company had grown by 13 per cent in the domestic market, thanks to their support.
While achieving strong growth in domestic and export sales CEAT Kelani Holdings had ventured in to new markets and new countries and doubled its production capacity for radial tyres to 40,000 numbers a month, he said.
“We believe strongly that both our in-house team and external stakeholders are very capable of strategising the necessary plan for the growth of our company,” Mr de Silva said. “With your inputs, the radial category, which is the future, has been our focus of investment and we thank our dealer partners who have made us a dominant player with a 31 per cent market share.”
CEAT Kelani Managing Director N. C. Venugopal pointed out that CEAT had provided immense support to all its dealers in the concluded year through initiatives such as continuous innovation and development projects that resulted in many new sizes of tyres for cars and motorcycles being added to the portfolio; dealer outlet enhancement projects, dynamic brand campaigns, sponsorship of motor racing and CSR activities.
The company had also conducted technical meets and other brand engagement projects for the truck and light truck segments.
The visit to Malaysia of 125 CEAT dealers included sight-seeing tours, entertainment, dining and shopping.
CEAT’s Top 10 dealers for 2013-14, who received many rewards such as overseas holidays in addition to their trophies, were Nanda Tyre House – Vavuniya, Sumith Marketing Co. – Ambalangoda, U&H Wheel Service – Colombo, Sumidag Tyre Co – Kurunegala, Perera Tyre Service – Malabe, M.J.R Peiris & Sons – Kandy, Paramount Tyre Traders – Colombo 2, Popular Motor Stores – Jaffna, Smart Wheels – Colombo 2 and Anura Tyre Service – Nivithigala.
CEAT Kelani Holdings currently manufactures half of Sri Lanka’s tyre requirements.
A global tyre brand present in 110 countries and now headquartered in India, CEAT is an acronym that stands for Cavi Electrici Affini Torino, or Electrical Cables & Allied Products of Turin, with origins that date back to 1924 in Italy.
A National Business Excellence Award winner in 2010, 2011, and 2012 and a National Quality Award winner in the ‘Manufacturing – Large’ category in 2013, CEAT - Kelani Holdings is a successful Indo-Sri Lanka joint venture between the RPG Group of India and Kelani Tyre – Sri Lanka.
The company operates three manufacturing units in Sri Lanka and employs a workforce of 1,000 people.