The 10 millionth Hankook tire rolled off the production line at the company’s Racalmas, Hungary production plant in January. According to the company, a Hankook Ventus V12 evo was the “anniversary” tire that came out of the heating mould, which is fitting since markets for UHP and environmentally-friendly tires have reportedly shown particularly strong growth in Europe.
“The demand for our tires has been growing steadily and dynamically all over Europe,” said Jin-Wook Choi, Hankook Tire executive vice president and COO in Europe. “This has allowed our European plant to roll its 10 millionth tire off the production earlier than expected. Consequently, we are investing a further 230 million euros into the expansion of the plant to enable the production of 10 million tires a year, or more than 30,000 tires a day by 2012.”
In addition to its European tire plant, Hankook runs its own European Technical Center (ETC) in Langenhagen, near Hannover, Germany. More than 40 engineers and technicians are researching to develop tires specifically to meet future needs of the European markets, closely cooperating with the factory in Hungary.
As a result, Hankook has recently been able to partner with renowned car manufacturers like Volkswagen, Audi, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Opel and Renault. The Hungarian facility already directly supplies tires to the European plants of Hyundai and Volkswagen for the Hyundai i30 and the Volkswagen T5 models. (Tyres & Accessories)
