CEAT’s 125 top dealers feted at grand awards gala in Malaysia

Tuesday, 23 December 2014 01:26 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

One hundred and twenty five of Sri Lanka’s leading tyre dealers celebrated their success in style in Malaysia recently when they were felicitated at a grand awards ceremony by CEAT, the highest-selling tyre brand in the country. 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 into new markets and 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 input, 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 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 in Vavuniya, Sumith Marketing Co. inAmbalangoda, U&H Wheel Service in Colombo, Sumidag Tyre Co in Kurunegala, Perera Tyre Service in Malabe, M.J.R Peiris & Sons in Kandy, Paramount Tyre Traders in Colombo 2, Popular Motor Stores in Jaffna, Smart Wheels inColombo 2 and Anura Tyre Service in 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 in Sri Lanka. The company operates three manufacturing units in Sri Lanka and employs a workforce of 1,000 people.