Hankook Marks China Milestone

Mid-May saw Hankook Tire reach an important milestone, with the company celebrating the 10th anniversary of the opening of its Huai’an factory in China’s Jiangsu Province. Government officials, including Mr. Ding Jieming, Part Secretary of Huaian government, Jiangsu province and Mr. fan Jinglong, Mayor of Huaian joined senior Hankook officials including company CEO Mr. Seung Hwa Suh in commemorating the occasion.

“Hankook Tire has experienced rapid growth,” stated Seung Hwa Suh during the ceremony. “We have recently celebrated the No. 100 million tyre off the production line and have sustained the top position in China’s market, which has helped Hankook Tire to build a solid foundation for ranking the 7th in the global market, and to lay down a solid foundation for the further high speed growth in China market.” Since first establishing a Chinese market presence in 1996 the company has established two factories, in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province and Huai’an Jiangsu Province. Production capacity at these two plants now stands at 28 million tyres per year.

The Korean tyremaker states that China has become their most important overseas market, and the Hankook’s confidence in the growing significance of China to the tyre industry was confirmed in 2006 when the company’s China Technical Center, first opened in 1998, was substantially expanded. As one of only five Hankook global R&D centres, the facility employs 110 researchers. At present a new three million square metre testing ground at the centre is in the planning stage, and Hankook have already reported that, once complete, the site will be responsible for a growing number of domestic and international research assignments.