Hankook Tire Co. Ltd. wants to build its medium, heavy truck and bus tire business across the globe, and the company is planning to add commercial truck tire production lines to its factory in Hungary.
Hankook says it will add capacity for 550,000 medium and heavy truck and bus tires annually.
The company points to its growing number of original equipment relationships as an indicator of its growth in the segment in Europe, as well as globally. Mercedes-Benz and Man Truck & Bus AG selected Hankook as its OE supplier in 2014, followed by Man in 2015 and Scania AB in 2016. Since 2013, the company also has been providing tires to Schmitz Cargobull AG, the largest trailer manufacturer in Europe. The Hungary plant gives Hankook a truck tire production facility close to those European customers.
Construction is expected to begin in June 2018, and tire production will start around June 2020. This is the fourth expansion for the factory in Rácalmás, Hungary, since its initial construction in 2006. Hankook says the latest expansion provides production capacity of more than 55,000 tires a day, which adds up to annual capacity of 19 million tires. The plant makes almost 900 size and model variations of consumer tires to fit passenger cars, SUVs, vans and light trucks.
This latest expansion involves an investment of about 290 million euro, and will create 150 new jobs.
“As a strategic partner to many leading vehicle makers, Hankook Tire has become well-known worldwide for its cutting-edge technology and premium quality tires in the car and SUV segment, and for some years in the medium and large size truck and bus segment, too," says Hyun Bum Cho, CEO and president of Hankook. "We have noticed a sharp increase in demand for our truck and bus tires globally so we will continuously satisfy our customers’ needs with the help of our new Hungarian truck and bus tire unit.”
For more information, go to www.hankooktire.com/global.
