Ranked among the top seven premium tyre manufacturers globally, Hankook was announced the global OE supplier for MAN heavy-duty trucks in the commercial vehicle show held recently at Hannover. The company is also a long-time supplier for Mercedes Benz in North America called the Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) and has been upgraded as OE supplier to the vehicle manufacturer with its new generation Atego Euro VI vehicles.
“We are one of the world leaders in LCV tyres and are also growing strong in the HCV business. Since OEM products pay off well in the aftermarket, with a share of 18 per cent, we are leaders in this segment in the UK. Our company aims to increase its business in other countries to become one among the global top five by 2020 in the premium segment”, said Mr. Felix Kinzer, Director Public Relations Europe/CIS, Marketing Communications Team, Europe HQ, Hankook Tire Europe GmbH, in a one-on-one with MOTORINDIA recently.
Hankook has been investing heavily in developing tyres for the region, in the region itself. The company’s tyres which are sold for the European OEMs are developed at the Hankook European Technical Centre in Hannover and the ones which serve the American brands like GM and Ford come from its Akron Technical Centre in the US. Hankook employs over 22,000 people in all its seven fully established facilities worldwide, with the latest and ultra-modern factory established in the European Union. In addition, the tyre manufacturer’s eighth production base is coming up shortly in Tennessee, which would contribute greatly to strengthen its capacity for growth.
The company’s PCR and TBR tyres have a significant market share in countries like North America, the UK, Germany and China. “One of the major reasons for our success is that for example our management foresightfully invested heavily in the Chinese market when other tyre makers hesitated to even enter it. Today we own a large stake in this market which became the world’s largest for automobiles. We produce and develop tyres which are suitable exclusively for each regional market”, said Mr. Kinzer.
As for its new products, the much-awaited ‘A’ labelled truck tyre has been developed by Hankook recently and is ready for sale. The premium tyre manufacturer is also proud of its association with reputed customers for the past 70 years. The company is one of the leading OE suppliers for BMW and VW-group for many of their models worldwide, he added.