SEOUL, Korea – Hankook Tire has released record figures for the third quarter, with global consolidated sales totaling KRW1.69 trillion, a year-over-year increase of 23 percent. The company’s third quarter operating profit recorded KRW129.9 billion.
Hankook Tire has been carrying out aggressive marketing activities including the DTM sponsorship and the “Be One with it” campaign this year, resulting in increased recognition for high-quality tires, according to the company. The expanded brand value was the greatest contributor to the company’s upward performance, proven by the continuous growth Hankook Tire posted every quarter in 2011.
Hankook Tire has recorded balanced growth in all markets from last year’s third quarter. The sales growth was particularly evident in the developed markets. Hankook Tire sold 49.6 percent and 30.1 percent more tires than last year in Europe and North America, respectively. In the emerging markets, the company achieved 36.2 percent, 26.7 percent, 21.1 percent year-over-year growths in the Middle East, Asia Pacific, and the CIS regions respectively.
Positive performance was shown in Hankook Tire’s overseas original equipment business, recording a 65.7 percent year over year growth. Hankook Tire in 2011 made major announcements of new fitment installment contracts with the top automobile brands including 2011 Ford Explorer and the BMW MINI models.
Based on wider recognition in the high-end market, Hankook Tire said it saw robust growth with a 47.7 percent year-over-year increase in sales of Ultra High Performance (UHP) tires. The company’s Korea operation more than doubled the sales of UHP tire supply to domestic automakers, and sold 79.6 percent more UHP tires to overseas automobile brands than last year.
Hankook Tire today also announced the successful completion of its second RÁcalmÁs plant production unit in Hungary. The new additional manufacturing unit is expected to boost Hankook’s production volume in Europe. Construction works for the expansion of the company’s European production site started in September 2009. As planned, the factory has extended its capacity, now producing approximately 12 million tires per year and giving employment to 1,900 people. The company’s RÁcalmÁs plant currently produces tires for passenger cars, SUVs and light trucks in more than 500 different specifications.
Passenger car radial tires account for the majority of the total production while due to the increased recognition of Hankook’s high product quality in Europe the manufacturing of UHP tires shows continuously increasing growth as well, the company says. For the first time, Hankook’s line-up of “Made in Europe” tires also will include the company’s flagship model. The recently launched high-end tire “Ventus S1 evo²,” which the company says is "loaded with new and sophisticated technologies and therefore being produced with the latest and most advanced production technologies installed at Hankook’s state-of-the-art Hungarian plant."
