Centrum Performance

Centrum Performance

Hankook Tire Claims Seventh Spot in Tire Maker Ranking

The Modern Tire Dealer recently reported that the Hankook Tire which is based in South Korea became the seventh largest tire manufacturer in the world after it has posted $3 billion in sales in the United States in 2006. Last yearâ€™s figures bested the $2.5 billion sales it posted in 2005 and this shows that Hankook is one of the fastest growing tire manufacturers in the world. Modern Tire Dealer also cited Hankookâ€™s focus on quality of the products that they create as well as the performance of the tires that they manufacture.

Tires coming from the South Korean contingent received much praise from experts in the field. In Germany, the AutoBild SportsCars magazine ranked one of Hankookâ€™s tires, the Ventus S1 evo, as the best performance tire among ten other tire models.

Another magazine recognizes Hankookâ€™s Optimo K715 tire as the most environment friendly tire. The accolade came from Stiftung Wartentest and was featured in its March edition. The magazine also gave the Ventus Prime from Hankook a â€œrecommendableâ€ rating.

Also in that country, both the Ventus Prime and the Optimo K715 are dubbed as the â€œbest buysâ€ by ZDF TV, the second largest television network in Germany. Gute Fahrt, a monthly magazine devoted to Volkswagen and Audi vehicles, also acknowledged Hankook by naming Hankookâ€™s Centrum H 270 as the third best all-weather tire after the publications tests.

These accolades and the increasing sales have definitely encouraged Hankook Tire to expand its operation as stated by its Chief Executive Officer Seung Hwa Suh who was noted saying: â€œHankook Tire is a company with aggressive future growth plans. We are enhancing our global management structures, putting increased efforts into greater brand building and, in the summer, our first European production facility in Hungary will become operational. As the market increasingly recognizes the superior quality of our products, we are seeing more and more opportunities developing for us in Europe, in China and in the U.S., and this increasing demand is driving the company forward.â€

The company is now aiming to sell $3.6 billion worth of tires in the United States this year. Hankook has started their bid to further strengthen their hold on the U.S. tire market by appointing Hwi Joong Kim to the companyâ€™s board of directors to provide good leadership. The company will be focusing their expertise and efforts to expand their brand nameâ€™s popularity throughout the world. They have already taken steps to expand their reach by building their fifth European facility in Hungary.

The said facility will become operational later this year and will definitely boost the total production output of the Asian company.

Tire manufacturers ranked by Modern Tire Dealer showed Bridgestone at the top followed by Michelin. Goodyear sits at third and Continental is the fourth largest tire manufacture. Pirelli is at fifth and followed by Suitomo in sixth. Hankook is in seventh place, Yokohama eighth, Cooper ninth, Kumho tenth, and Toyo is the eleventh largest tire manufacturers. All these companies produce high performance tires as practical as a Nissan floor mat.