Hankook Confirms it is Considering 6th Production Facility

When Hankook executives announced details of their plans to expand production at the company’s Dunaujvaros, Hungary factory earlier in September, the Financial Times reported that either an Indian or Malaysian plant are next on the list. In answer to Tyres & Accessories/tyrepress.com questions, Calvin Pak, Hankook team manager corporate communications, explained that these countries are indeed being considered, but that sites in Mexico and Brazil are also being looked into. Acquisitions of existing plants or companies are also said to be an option. However, no final decisions have yet been made.

“Hankook Tire needs additional production capacity to meet ever increasing demand for our high quality products…This is why we are discussing a sixth production facility with no final decision yet. Many locations could be considered like Mexico or Brazil as well as Asia with India or Malaysia being interesting sites,” Calvin Pak explained, adding: “First priority is to finalize the second phase at our new Hungary plant [the 230 million euro expansion due between now and 2011].

Hankook Tire’s stated global strategy is to become one of the leading global tyre manufacturers in the future and increase its production capacity to 100 million tyres per year by 2013. “Consequently we have to expand our production network for further increasing volume either through building a new factory or acquire an existing tyre company or factory. But again: No decision has yet been made,” Pak continued.

Asked what kind of factory products the sixth plant will produce when the site is selected and investment confirmed, Pak answered: “All Hankook Tire factories have the same advanced standard for production of high quality tyres of all types for best possible flexibility.” He didn’t give details of the scale of capacity being planned.

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• Hankook Tire Invests 230 million euros in Hungary Factory
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