Hankook, Korea’s leading tiremaker, has been a dominant player since 2003 in China. Its market share reached 25% last year. That means that one out of every four sedans in the world’s fastest-growing economy run on Hankook tires.

Kumho Tire jumped to No. 3 from fourth place last year. It has a 15% market share and is close behind No. 2, Indonesia’s Gajah Tunggal, one of the largest tire producers in Southeast Asia.

Japan’s Bridgestone and France’s Michelin trail Kumho in China.

When Hankook landed in China in 1998, its market share was 5.4%, and it had an annual production capacity of 140,000 tires.

As it expanded its investment and production more than twofold yearly, Hankook overtook the once dominant Japanese producer in the tire market, which has been growing about 23% year-on-year.

Hankook’s aim of supplying tires to internationally renowned automakers such as GM, Ford and Volkswagen played a key role in raising its image.

The company sealed a deal to supply tires for Audi A6 and A4 sedans this year.

The story is similar for Kumho Tire, the first Korean tire company to make inroads into China.

Kumho is battling for second place in the Chinese market, aiming to boost its production capacity to 30 million by 2010.

The company has a production capacity of 15.5 million, while Hankook has 25 million in China as of last year.

Kumho is set to complete construction of a new plant in China in the latter half of this year, and it plans to invest more than $2 million in another factory there.

It also agreed to supply tires to Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz.