Apollo Tyres unveiled a new $35m component preparation facility at its tyre manufacturing plant in Ladysmith, South Africa.

The new 6,500ft2 unit is expected to address capacity constraints and further enhance the quality and productivity.

This component unit will increase the commercial vehicle tyre capacity of Durban by 20%, and the Ladysmith passenger vehicle and light truck tyre manufacturing capacity by 30%.

According to the Apollo, the production at the Durban plant will boost to 1,200 tyres per day from the current 1,000 tyres and that at Ladysmith unit will increase from the current 10,000 tyres to 13,000 tyres per day.

Following the acquisition of the Dunlop Tyre in 2006, Apollo has until now invested about $85m to modernize its machinery and increase production capacity at the Durban and Ladysmith facilities.