It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the importance of tyres in a vehicle, whether it’s a car or a motorcycle or an aircraft for that matter. Take this for an instance, they are your vehicle’s only contact patch to the tarmac and you shouldn’t think twice before getting your vehicle a good set of tyres. There’s a famous saying ‘Keep the rubber side down’ and tyres with good grip will assure you that. There are a lot of tyre manufacturers present in the market but there’s one player who is leaving a mark lately and that is Maxxis tyres.
They are a subsidiary of Maxxis group and started their operations in our country back in 2015 with an investment of 2,640 crore and set up a manufacturing facility in Sanand, Gujarat in the year 2017. The capacity of the manufacturing facility is something to boast about as 20,000 tyres and 40,000 tubes are produced there per day. Maxxis recently became OEM tyre supplier to Honda and Hero Motocorp. They have grown their footprint in the market quite exponentially as they have 1500 dealers under them now.
When we looked into it, we found some interesting facts about Maxxis. Their tyres have to undergo rigorous testing before they come out in the market. Indian R&D teams collaborate with global R&D teams to ensure the same level of product excellence can be maintained and delivered to the end consumer. They have a dedicated testing ground situated in Kunshan, China. They invested US$1590 million in developing this testing facility which is one of only a select few privately owned proving grounds in China. The stats of the testing facility are pretty impressive as it has Total Length of 4.5km with 3 lane banked section with 12m wide and 6m high curved ramp.
Here’s a detailed map of the testing facility:
They have also been a part of the Dakar Rally which is otherwise known as ‘World’s toughest rally’. Maxxis Tyres was the key sponsor for the Team Coronel competing at 2019 Dakar Rally. Team Coronel comprises twin brothers Tim and Tom Coronel. The brothers rode astride their buggy named ‘The Beast’.
Maxxis had to develop a special set of tyres for the Dakar Rally as the vehicle participating in it has to go through a variety of terrains and surface conditions. They had to develop a set of ultra-durable tyres which could stand the abuses thrown at them.
Maxxis tyres have a very wide portfolio but when it comes to the flagship tyre for motorcycles, it has to be the Supermaxx ST which is basically designed to rival all the sport touring tyres in the market. They are high performance radial tyres with a new carcass which provides great rider feedback. They are W rated when it comes to the speed rating.
Maxxis also makes tyres for four wheelers and the flagship product in the portfolio is Victra Sport 5 (VS5). They provide optimum high speed stability while also enhancing ride comfort.
India operations of Maxxis tyres is spearheaded by Mr. Bing-Lin Wu who has been associated with the brand for over 3 years now. He is currently heading the Sales and Marketing division at Maxxis Tyres’ India operations.