Hankook’s sales and operating profit increase in Q2

Hankook Tire’s 2021 Q2 financial results show consolidated global sales of KRW 1.806 trillion (EUR 1,336 million) and an operating profit reaching KRW 187 billion (EUR 138 million).

Sales and operating profit rose 32.4 per cent and 167.1 per cent YoY and 11.7 per cent and 0.6 per cent QoQ respectively. In particular, sales of both original equipment (OE) tyres and replacement (RE) tyres grew compared to the same period last year. In addition, global sales of 18 inches and higher tyres accounted for 38 per cent of total passenger car and light truck tyre sales, a YoY increase of 5.4 percentage points.

Hankook Tire is showing continued increase in sales in several major markets including Europe, North America and China since the second half of last year. In particular, this quarter showed recovery in market demand in Europe and the U.S. The company saw a 6 percentage points increase in sales of 18 inches and higher along with a huge increase in sales of OE and RE tyres in Europe. As for the U.S. market, the sales of high-inch, OE and RE tyres showed a strong YoY growth even at a faster pace than that of market demand recovery. China also showed a strong increase in sales of high-inch tyres recording a rise of 8 percentage points YoY.

The company is also strengthening its leadership as a premium brand in supplying electric vehicles (EVs) and high-performance cars. Recently, Hankook announced it would supply Ventus S1 evo3 ev tyres to Volkswagen’s first all-electric SUV VW ID.4 and Audi’s first all-electric sports car Audi e-Tron GT. In addition to OE fitment, the company supplied Kinergy AS ev for “Volkswagen ID.4: Great Roadshow through the U.S.”, a cross-country tour which kicked off in July to travel over 36,000 miles across all 48 contiguous US states in all-electric Volkswagen ID.4.

As for the high-performance market, Hankook announced in July that the company is fitting the BMW X3 M and X4 M with Ventus S1 evo Z. The tyre was specially developed for the Ultra-Ultra-High-Performance segment for use on particularly sporty high-performance vehicles.

Seeking to reach a sales goal of of KRW 7 trillion in 2021, Hankook Tire will focus on securing further growth momentum of its high-inch tyre sales in major markets and continue to expand OE partnerships with global premium carmakers in the second half of this year. Growth in the electric vehicle tyre sector will remain as one of the major concentrations while continuously driving for both quantitative and qualitative growth through optimising distribution strategies tailored to each region.