SOUTH KOREA’s Hankook Tire is setting up its first US plant, in bid to boost its presence in the country, the firm’s third largest market after China and Europe.
The new plant will have an annual production capacity of 5m-10m units, according to Cho Hyun-shick, the company’s president in charge of overseas expansion.
“We are in talks with three US states – Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia – to build a plant and we will decide the final site by the end of this year,” says Cho.
The company controls 5% of the market for replacement tyres and 7-8% of originally equipped tyres in the US. It has seven global manufacturing plants including two in South Korea and three in China.
Hankook, which is currently the world’s seventh largest car producer by sales, is targeting the top five global tyremakers spot; it is also aiming to become the Formula One supplier.