Aebi Schmidt has selected Hankook’s Vantra LT tyre for its Swingo 200 street cleaning machines. At over four tonnes, the Swingo 200 is tough machine that can expect a long and arduous working life. This specialist machine also boasts a large hopper capacity, resulting in a 50 per cent bigger payload than other street sweepers.
Spectators watching this Sunday’s DTM round at the Norisring circuit in southern Germany will no longer have to puzzle over which tyres each driver has selected. Championship tyre supplier Hankook has decided to visually differentiate the option tyres by printing its brand name in larger, yellow text on the sidewall. Viewers at home will also be helped in the tyre department through additional on-screen information; graphics shown on televised coverage will now also indicate which tyres a vehicle is using. This information is transmitted via the rim-mounted sensors each DTM car has used since the start of 2012 to convey information on tyre pressure.
In June Hankook Tyre UK marked the ongoing service of its staff and presented members of the team with awards for outstanding service. The lunch recognised the 10 year anniversary for two members of its senior staff who both started work at the company in 2002.
UK sales director, Barrie Horrocks, was awarded for his outstanding service after celebrating 10 years with the company last year. Horrocks joined the company as commercial sales manager, a role he was in for 9 years before being promoted to sales director in 2011.
Korean tyre manufacturers have outperformed the Korean Kospi index year-to-date. According to an investor’s note published by financial analyst at Deutsche Bank, the strong showing has come thanks to “a sharp decline in raw material costs, strong earnings delivery and expectations of demand recovery in in the second half of 2013”, with the latter point welcome news for everyone.
Yokohama Tire Corporation has hired Andrew Zeisser as its new director of OE sales. In this role, Zeisser will be responsible for the company’s original equipment business in North America and will lead Yokohama Tire Corporation’s OE sales, engineering and quality functions. He will be based at the company’s Detroit, Michigan office.
Hankook’s most recent addition to its high performance tyre range focuses on the increasingly important European segment of SUV tyres designed for high performance road use. In the March issue of Tyres & Accessories, we discussed the migration of SUV tyres to speed ratings above T; V alone has nearly 10 times the market share (20.4 per cent) it had 10 years ago, and though H (34.5) is currently the predominant designation for the SUV market, it is expected that SUV tyres will continue to follow the trends set by passenger cars. Indeed, 2012 saw a small year-on-year reduction in H’s market share. High performance tyres are now the most important story for SUVs as well as passenger cars.
In the weekend’s DTM action, drivers were able to demonstrate the strategies made possible by exclusive tyre partner Hankook’s new option tyre in front of 65,000 fans at the Lausitzring. Four of the five fastest drivers started the race with the Ventus Race Plus that allows for faster times for a few laps before the intended drop-off sets in. Other drivers started with the base-line slick tyre and later changed to the option to try to make up lost ground in the first stint. Mercedes-Benz driver Gary Paffett scored his first race win of this DTM season and the first success of the Stuttgart car manufacturer.
Although no comment has come from Clermont-Ferrand, within the last week Michelin has again been named as a future Pirelli replacement as Formula One tyre supplier. But Bernie Ecclestone has been quick to put the lid on such speculation; in his F1 blog, motor racing journalist Adam Cooper writes that when questioned on the subject, Ecclestone responded: “No idea. I haven’t got a clue. I haven’t spoken to anyone. We have a long-term contract with Pirelli, as the FIA do. And I think most of the teams have – I think they’ve done a deal with all the teams they want to do a deal with.”
Hankook Tire Co. is scouting potential sites in South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama for its planned US tyre plant, according to US news sources.
Hankook Tire and the Hungarian Government have jointly announced details of further investment in the tyre manufacturer’s European production facility, located 60 kilometeres south of Budapest. Hankook plans to invest some 313 million euros in adding a further manufacturing unit to the site, which will create over 950 new jobs and further boost Hankook’s production volume in Europe, bringing capacity up to 17 million tyres per year.
Hankook unveiled several new commercial tyres at the CV Show, including the bead to bead retread truck tyre the Alphatread. Additionally Hankook’s latest truck tyres, which aim to fill a gap it identifies between medium and long haul transportation, were displayed, while the brand raised interest in its stand through its sporting sponsorships. Tom May and Phil Dowson, players from Northampton Saints RFC visited the stand, while Hankook also ran a competition to win VIP tickets to football’s Europa League semi-final, a partnership that was announced at last year’s show.
Seoul-based Korea IT Times reports that Hankook Tire’s holding company, Hankook Tire Worldwide, will increase its capital by issuing capital stock for noncash assets. This is being done in order to make Hankook Tire its subsidiary, the ICT journal explains. Through the capital increase, Hankook Tire chairman Cho Yang-Rai and his family will be able to strengthen their control over the company by doubling their stake in the holding company.
April’s annual gathering of the UK logistics industry, The Commercial Vehicle Show at Birmingham’s NEC represents a fine opportunity for those in the tyre industry to connect with this side of their business. The 2013 iteration boasted the best exhibitor turnout since 2009, and the show itself seemed to have exceeded many expectations for visitor numbers, which usually number around 16,000 over its three days, the organisers say. Certainly Tyres & Accessories witnessed busy stands visiting the show on day two.
Hankook and European touring car racing series DTM have signed an extension to their official tyre supplier deal, extending the partnership until at least 2016. DTM’s organisers have been sufficiently satisfied by the development of Hankook’s Ventus line of motorsport tyres to sign the deal ahead of schedule, while the Korean tyre manufacturer is keen to sustain the brand value and premium brand status it derives in part from this deal. Hankook added an all new option tyre specification this season, which it president & chief marketing officer/chief corporate management officer at believes allows the company to demonstrate the brand’s performance on premium brand vehicles.
Although its first quarter sales are down 1.7 per cent year-on-year and 1.3 per cent lower than in the final quarter of 2012, Hankook Tire describes its consolidated sales for January to March 2013 as “well-sustained”, and the company’s bottom line faired well. The company earned global revenues of KRW 1.68 trillion (£975 million) in the first quarter, while operating profit amounted to KRW 254.4 billion (£147.8 million), a 10.4 per cent year-on-year improvement and 14.4 per cent higher than in Q4 2012. The operating profit to sales ratio reached 15.2 per cent.
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