Auto Tyres (Zimbabwe) (Private) Limited is the sole tyre manufacturing company in Zimbabwe. It was established in 1953 and began operations in 1959. The factory was commissioned on the current site in 1959 when it began to manufacture tyres and tubes for cars, graders, earthmovers, motorcycles, bicycles and wheel barrows.
The Company was initially registered as Dunlop Rhodesia Limited on 25 March 1953, and was issued with a certificate to commence business on that date. On 10 June 1980, the Company changed its name to become Dunlop Zimbabwe Limited, and carried on operating under this name until 12 March 2007 when its name was altered to Dunlop Zimbabwe (Private) Limited following its de-listing from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. The name had been changed to Dunlop Zimbabwe Limited after the country attained its independence in 1980. On 23 October 2013, the Company changed its name from Dunlop Zimbabwe (Private) Limited to Apollo Tyres (Zimbabwe) Limited following the acquisition of the “Dunlop” trademark for Africa by Sumitomo Rubber Industries. In September 2015, then changed to Auto Tyres Zimbabwe.
The Company had, at inception, a strong link to the British tyre manufacturing company, and these links existed until 1996 when Dunlop Tyres South Africa acquired control of the Company. The “Dunlop” brand derived its name from a Scottish veterinary doctor – John Boyd Dunlop – who invented the pneumatic tyre in 1888 in Belfast. He took out the first patent on his invention on 3 July 1888, and what was to follow was the world famous “Dunlop” brand.
The Company from its early years diversified into engineering, furniture, properties, restaurant, vinyl tiling and adhesive businesses. In 1996 it offloaded all its subsidiary companies to concentrate on the rubber related operations.
In 1999, Dunlop Zimbabwe Limited acquired Rubber and Allied Products (Private) Limited and merged it with Dunlop Rubber Products to form new a company called Dunlop Industrial Products. In 2002, Dunlop Industrial Products was disposed of to concentrate on the tyre manufacturing side. That same year Dunlop Zimbabwe was wholly acquired by Dunlop Tyres South Africa (Proprietary) Limited. In 2006, Apollo Tyres of India acquired Dunlop Tyres South Africa and in the process Dunlop Zimbabwe was taken over as well and became known as Dunlop Zimbabwe (Private Limited), a member of the Group of Apollo Tyres.
In October 2013 as mentioned above, Dunlop Zimbabwe changed its name to Apollo Tyres (Zimbabwe) (Private) Limited to reflect the Company’s new ownership, seven years after its parent company was purchased by Indian giant Apollo Tyres International. This was done so that the name of the company correctly reflected the group structure and ownership of the business, with the ultimate holding company – Apollo Tyres Limited (India).
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Auto Tyres (Zimbabwe) is a high performance company that produces both Radial and Cross-ply tyres. In the radial range, it has passenger car and light truck tyres while in the Cross-ply range it has light truck, truck, tractor, farm implement, off-road and earth-mover tyres. It also produces specialty application accessories like the re-treading material and flaps.
The company’s factory is located in the Donnington industrial area of Bulawayo, and it also operates sales and distribution outlets from Bulawayo and Harare.
Major raw materials and packaging are imported through South Africa.
The Company provides employment to over 300 individuals.
Auto Tyres (Zimbabwe) is one of Bulawayo and Zimbabwe’s major manufacturing concerns, and has over the past 50 years been significant industrial force in the local economy.