Hankook Ranked 5th in J.D. Power Survey

Hankook Tire recently announced that it has ranked fifth in the mass market/non-luxury segment of J.D. Power’s ‘2007 OE Tire Customer Satisfaction Study’. The manufacturer attributes this respectable placing to the company’s increasing focus on quality service and production, and its consistent investment of approximately five per cent of annual revenue into R&D.

Hankook Tire scored 810 out of 1,000 points, outperforming Bridgestone, Dunlop, Yokohama and Continental. The study measures overall customer satisfaction with their original equipment tyres, examining five key factors: wearability, appearance, traction/grip, ride and handling. Rankings are based on owner experiences with their tyres during the first year of ownership. Hankook Tire jumped its rank for third consecutive year; escalating from tenth in 2004 to eighth in 2005, sixth in 2006 and fifth in this year.

Mr. Seung Hwa Suh, CEO, Hankook Tire, said, “we consistently invest in development and testing to provide consumers with superior quality and high performance tyres, by using advancing technologies and research to tailor region-specific, OE model-specific and need-specific products. This result is a great endorsement and ratification of our business strategies, and future investments in technology will sustain our reputation for producing tyres that are at least on a par with top tier tyre makers.”

The Korean manufacturer stakes its claim as the world’s seventh largest tyre manufacturer based on 2006 sales of US$3 billion, and is claimed by one source to have recorded the joint highest growth rate (20 per cent) out of eleven top global tyre manufacturers. To continue this momentum, Hankook Tire is investing in R&D for further product innovation, marketing and increased production capacity, including the £340 million European production facility in Hungary that started production in June.