Smart mobility is as relevant as ever, with growing urbanisation rates in almost all countries across the globe. But the concept isn’t new. At least I recall reading about the future of driving when I was very young, and a university project concluded that in the future, cars would be able to connect to each other and slide onto some sort of rail system when driving on the highway, so nobody would have to worry about steering or speeding when covering the long stretches of the journey. Not surprising, the project couldn’t have been more wrong in its conclusion. But why didn’t it work? It would have reduced accidents, pollutant emissions, road wear and maintenance costs, and it would have probably been quite easy to develop guiding chips and software to let cars in and out of the chain.

Well, the answer is simple, and is proven by the fact that car sales are still going up worldwide in spite of an ever-growing range of alternative transportation methods available to the buyers: freedom. As global wealth keeps increasing, all societies can recognize that the first luxury people growing out of poverty take is to buy a car, in many cases even before considering taking out a mortgage to buy a house. Why do they do that? Obviously to signal their increased wealth to the people around them (it’s harder to show if your house is bought or rented), but also to enjoy the freedom of being able to go exactly where they want to go and when. In these corona times being able to move about without bumping into others in public transportation is of course also an important factor. If this wasn’t the case, car sales would be dropping rapidly. Public transportation is cheaper, if you compare it to total cost of ownership of a car it’s easy math, and in many cases it’s also faster and easier. Plus, you can be productive getting some work done or enjoying a good rest when you don’t have to sit at the wheel in a traffic jam.

For those who care about global warming and reducing the environmental impact, there’s even further incentive to get rid of the car, but still, this is not what we see in the new car sales figures – although you could argue that some people buy a new car because it pollutes less than the old one.

Bicycles

With all the new technology, it will be very interesting to see how smart mobility will be implemented in cities across the globe, and if it will change the trend for good. After all, it’s be big cities with massive population numbers that will make a difference for the planet. If we look at a city like Copenhagen, it has for many years focused on being the world’s best city to ride a bicycle in, and it has implemented many innovative structures allowing cyclists to zip from one place to another in a matter of minutes with minimal need to stop along the way. Some places bridges have been built just to cater to cyclists. No doubt you can get around faster and cheaper in Copenhagen if you ride a bike than by any other means of transportation.

Another thing that is becoming increasingly interesting in the big cities is the drone technology, now we have seen Chinese firefighters putting out high-rise fires using drones controlled from the ground, and many places they have also begun working as parcel or food delivery agents. But is there a viable case to argue that we will all be flying in private drone vessels instead of driving in cars in the coming decade? I wouldn’t bet my money on it. First of all, it would take long until the general public would trust a drone manufacturer enough to not fear dropping to the ground or being flung into a building or another drone mid-air at any moment. Second of all, they would most definitely run on electricity, which we know from electric cars means very heavy batteries and/or short operation times. Probably in colder regions you would also struggle with much lower performance during winter, and possibly weather conditions not allowing them to take off.

That’s another nightmare scenario – to be caught in a thunderstorm or hailstorm up in the air.

Naturally, the ultimate challenge would be that everyone would basically need to have a pilot license to operate them, and air traffic control would be an entirely new concept in this scenario. We have all seen movies like Stars Wars or The Fifth Element where flying vehicles somehow get into invisible lanes and layers, but it’s hard to see how that can go from fiction to reality.

Urban hubs

So, how can consumers most likely have their desire for freedom fulfilled within a smart mobility concept? Most likely by creating urban hubs or city line parking facilities, so it’s easy to take the car to, from, or between cities, but not inside them. At these hubs, you would park the car and jump on the next shuttle to anywhere in the city, or even ride a bike that you brought with you. Designing these hubs, along with ample green areas in the cities, is the only way that any city planner can create the grounds for real smart mobility, and not take people’s freedom away from them. Then the only thing left is to address the issue of the environmental impact caused by passenger cars, both combustion engine emissions and tyre pollution from wear during use and waste management at end of tyre life.

Tyre manufacturers don’t seem to be making huge changes to the technology yet, except for a few innovative products like the Michelin Tweel – and the ultimate challenge is of course that the vehicle so far has to be in contact with the road surface to move and handle satisfactorily. It’s hard to imagine any tyre concept where rubber against the road surface isn’t involved, and it’s also hard to imagine any tyre manufacturer supporting such a project, given the massive investments they have in their production equipment, which isn’t easy to readjust to put out something else. Well, at least not any serious manufacturer – there was a Chinese plant that stopped producing tyres this year to start producing face masks instead because of corona demand, but that probably says something about the quality of both products coming out of that factory, and it makes me very interested in reading their mission statement.

Ultimately, for tyre manufacturers to start investing in any game changing product development, we would have to see a development like we have seen with British Tobacco actually advertising against smoking – which is very much in line with the trends of the day but doesn’t seem rational from a business perspective. So, to conclude, I’ll venture a bet that we won’t see any drastic changes in how much smarter our mobility options will become until we either see a scenario that will allow people to experience the same level of freedom as owning a car, drastically reducing the environmental impact from driving and tyre waste, and/or creating cities where it utterly doesn’t make any sense to drive instead of hopping on the city’s smart mobility system, whatever that might turn out to be.

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Apollo Tyres will invest INR 58 billion over three years to expand passenger car and truck tyre capacity at its Andhra Pradesh plant, as utilisation in India moves into the high 80s and truck and bus radial lines approach full capacity.

The board has approved the capital expenditure for financial years 2027 to 2029, with about INR 20 billion scheduled for FY2027. Total consolidated capex in FY2027 is expected to be about INR 30 billion, including roughly INR 7 billion of maintenance and operational spending and ongoing expansion in Hungary.

Neeraj Kanwar, Managing Director And Vice-Chairman, said the company was “running at close to 100 percent utilisation” in truck and bus radial tyres and was seeing shortages in truck, passenger car and farm segments.

For the quarter ended December 2025, consolidated revenue rose nearly 12 percent year on year to INR 77.4 billion, the highest quarterly revenue on both a standalone and consolidated basis, the company said. EBITDA stood at INR 11.9 billion, with a margin of 15.3 percent, compared with 14.9 percent in the previous quarter and 13.7 percent a year earlier.

In India, revenue was INR 51.4 billion, up more than 13 percent, with mid-teens volume growth in OEM and replacement channels and exports growth just short of 20 percent. The company said utilisation across India operations was in the high 80s for both passenger car radial and truck and bus radial tyres.

In Europe, revenue was €180 million, broadly flat year on year, reflecting a subdued market. The European passenger car replacement market declined 4 percent in the quarter. EBITDA in Europe was €32 million, with a margin of 17.9 percent, compared with 17.7 percent a year earlier and 12.7 percent in the preceding quarter.

In Europe, the group will close its Enschede plant in the Netherlands by the end of June 2026. Production is being transitioned to Hungary and India. Management expects the benefits of the restructuring to begin flowing through from the second half of FY2027, although it declined to provide margin guidance.

The India expansion will lift passenger car tyre capacity by 10,500 tyres per day from an existing base of about 58,000 tyres per day, an increase of 17–18 percent. Truck and bus radial capacity of more than 15,000 tyres per day will rise by 3,600 tyres per day, or more than 20 percent. Some capacity will come on stream in FY2028, with the full benefit expected by FY2030.

Gaurav Kumar, Chief Financial Officer, said the expansion equates to roughly INR 170 million per metric tonne of added capacity, compared with INR 115-120 million per tonne in the previous Andhra investment in FY2021. The increase reflects “inflationary pressures” and the adoption of “state-of-the-art” technology to cater to global OEMs in India, Europe and the US.

He added that the decision marked a shift from incremental debottlenecking to larger civil construction. “We reached a stage where we could not further increase the capacity by line balancing and hence, any further increase in capacity needed civil,” Kumar said.

The company expects to take on some additional debt during the capex cycle. Consolidated net debt fell to INR 13 billion at the end of December 2025, from INR 26 billion at the end of September, driven by lower short-term borrowings and stronger operational cash flow. Net debt to EBITDA declined to 0.4 times from 0.8 times.

Kumar said net debt to EBITDA would remain below the long-term ceiling of 2.0 times “even at the peak levels” of capex.

Return on capital employed is running at 13.5 percent, below the 15 percent target previously outlined by the group. Management said it would revisit capital allocation and return metrics as it formulates a new five-year plan to March 2031.

On raw materials, the company expects costs to remain steady in the fourth quarter. In the December quarter, natural rubber was about INR 195 per kg, synthetic rubber INR 170 per kg, carbon black INR 115 per kg and steel cord about INR 155 per kg.

Apollo does not hedge rubber or crude oil. “We came to the conclusion to stay away from rubber or crude oil hedging,” Kumar said. Foreign currency borrowings are fully hedged, while operational exposure in India is hedged between 75 percent and 100 per cent.

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Kuraray Co., Ltd. reported a sharp fall in net profit for 2025 after recording impairment losses in its isoprene and elastomer businesses, even as operating cash flow remained positive and the group outlined a recovery in 2026.

The Japanese chemicals group posted net sales of USD 5.27 billion for the year to December 31 2025, down 2.2 percent from USD 5.39 billion year earlier. Operating income declined 30.8 percent to USD 383.7 million, while ordinary income fell 36.8 percent to USD 335.0 million.

Net income attributable to owners of the parent dropped 76.5 percent to USD 48.9 million, reflecting extraordinary losses that included USD 193.5 million in impairment charges related to the isoprene chemical business and thermoplastic styrene elastomers.

Total assets rose to USD 8.49 billion at year end from USD 8.44 billion , while net assets fell to USD 4.92 billion, resulting in an equity ratio of 57.0 percent. Interest-bearing debt increased, contributing to a rise in total liabilities.

Net cash provided by operating activities amounted to USD 642.3 million, compared with USD 901 million in the previous year. Investing activities used USD 641 million, largely for capital expenditure, and financing activities used USD 106.5 million, including USD 196.1 million in share buybacks and USD 113.7 million in dividends. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period stood at USD 705.5 million.

By segment, vinyl acetate sales declined 2.5 percent to USD 2.64 billion while the isoprene business recorded sales growth of 5.3 percent to USD 523.8 million but remained loss-making. Functional materials sales were broadly flat, while operating income fell. Fibres and textiles saw lower sales but improved profitability. Trading sales edged higher.

For 2026, Kuraray forecasts net sales of USD 5.54 billion and operating income of USD 456.0 million. Net income attributable to owners of the parent is expected to recover to USD 260.6 million.

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Dara Jehangir Bharucha, a respected stalwart of India’s rubber and polymer industry with a career spanning more than six decades, has passed away today. He was 90.

Born on January 12, 1936, in Mumbai, Bharucha graduated from St. Xavier’s College in 1955 before embarking on a distinguished professional journey in the technical side of the rubber sector. He began his career with Firestone Tyre Company in Bombay, working in its technical department during a formative phase for India’s tyre industry.

He later joined Philips Carbon Black Ltd in West Bengal, where he was associated with testing the first lot of carbon black produced in India — a milestone in the domestic rubber value chain. In 1972, Bharucha moved to Bayer, rising to become Regional Technical Manager and subsequently Technical and Development Manager at the company’s Thane headquarters.

Following his retirement, he continued contributing to the industry by joining the Bhimrajka Group in 1996, a leading distributor of performance polymers and chemicals in India. Even in his later years, Bharucha remained actively engaged with the All India Rubber Industries Association (AIRIA), participating in technical forums, seminars and industry deliberations.

Colleagues remember him as a technically rigorous professional with an unwavering commitment to industry development. His career mirrored the evolution of India’s rubber and polymer ecosystem — from import dependence to domestic capability.

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Sanjay Sharma, Head of Corporate Communication and Motorsport at JK Tyre & Industries Ltd, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 61. A central architect of organised racing in India, Sharma, widely known in Indian motorsport circles as “Hardy”, leaves behind a legacy that reshaped the country’s motorsport ecosystem over three decades.

Sharma joined JK Tyre & Industries Ltd in 1994 with a mandate to professionalise its fledgling motorsport division. At a time when structured racing pathways in India were limited, he built a formal competitive framework that would become the backbone of the sport domestically.

In 1997, he spearheaded the launch of the JK Tyre National Racing Championship, creating a sustained talent pipeline for aspiring drivers. The championship went on to nurture several Indian racers who would make their mark internationally, including Narain Karthikeyan, Karun Chandhok, Aditya Patel and Armaan Ebrahim.

Beyond circuit racing, Sharma broadened JK Tyre’s footprint across rallying, karting and grassroots motorsport development. In 2000, he was instrumental in introducing organised karting championships in India — a decisive step in creating an entry-level ladder for young drivers. His long-term vision emphasised early talent identification and structured progression to international competition.

Under his stewardship, JK Tyre also strengthened its presence in rallying, supporting prominent drivers such as Gaurav Gill, while expanding competitive platforms across formats. Colleagues and competitors alike credit Sharma with institutionalising professionalism in an industry that had previously operated in fragmented pockets.

Tributes from across the Indian motorsport fraternity poured in on Thursday, describing him as a mentor, strategist and relentless advocate for the sport. Many credited his administrative foresight and corporate stewardship for laying the foundation upon which India’s contemporary racing structure stands.

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