Hankook Tire & Technology Co. Ltd. is in global growth mode, powered by the “integrated, innovative ecosystem” the tire manufacturer has developed in South Korea, its home country. 

During a recent press briefing at the Hankook Technoplex, Hankook’s corporate headquarters in Pangyo, South Korea, company officials discussed the tire manufacturer’s capabilities and how the work it performs in South Korea supports operations across the globe, including North American subsidiary Hankook Tire America Corp. 

“We continuously invest in R&D and upgraded global production facilities and service channels to improve our technology,” Hankook officials said. “We continue to secure future growth channels through our investments.” 

During the presentation, Hankook officials pointed to “a single financial structure and a balanced business portfolio” as factors that help Hankook “deliver performance and quality to its customers. 

“Under the strategic leadership at our global headquarters, the whole organization moves in a consistent direction, securing competitiveness by performing strategies and functions according to regional headquarters.” 

‘Integrated ecosystem’ 

Hankook has developed what it calls “an integrated, innovation ecosystem” that consists of three facilities in South Korea, starting with the Technoplex, then followed by the Technodome, Hankook’s global research and development center, and the Hankook Technoring, which the tiremaker says is the largest tire proving grounds in Asia and the facility where all Hankook tires are evaluated and deemed fit for the market. 

Each of the three facilities plays a distinct but connected role within the tiremaker’s product development system and has a direct impact on the company’s North America operations, as well as Hankook’s businesses in other regions. (Hankook has seven regional headquarters and five research and development centers worldwide and has sales operations in 160 countries. The company has eight manufacturing plants, including one in Clarksville, Tenn., that together have a total production capacity of 100 million units.) 

The Hankook Technoplex, which was completed in January 2020, employs 1,260 people who work in flexible, open workspaces — even executives don’t have fixed seats or personal offices within the facility — and encompasses 10 above-ground floors, as well as six underground floors.  

Kiosks and apps are used to reserve workstations and meeting rooms when employees arrive at the building. The goal is to foster a “horizontal corporate culture” that optimizes collaboration at all levels, a dynamic that is required for the development and execution of the tiremaker’s global strategy.  

Hankook officials describe the Technoplex as the tire manufacturer’s “central hub for product planning, strategic coordination and long-term vision. While OE development and technical collaboration with automakers are carried out through specialized R&D and testing facilities, the Technoplax plays an important role in aligning those efforts with the company’s broader global strategy, future mobility vision and innovation priorities.” 

The facility “helps connect strategic planning with research, development and real-world testing by supporting collaboration across functions and global operations. This integrated approach helps Hankook turn long-term ideas into practical technologies and products.” 

Enter the Technodome 

The next link in Hankook’s South Korea operation is the Technodome, located in Daejeon, South Korea, a city of 1.5 million people that’s 90 miles down the road from the Technoplex. The six-floor complex, which opened 10 years ago and employs around 1,160 associates, is the global center of Hankook’s research and development efforts. 

The facility includes a tire noise measurement lab; a friction energy test lab featuring Hankook’s proprietary Snowmaker Technology, which creates artificial snow for winter tire evaluation; a driving simulation center that mimics real-world vehicle tests based on data gathered from test tracks and major racetracks; and other research stations. In a unique twist, labs are interspersed among offices inside the building and are equipped with large windows. 

At the Technodome, “fundamental research, material analysis, simulation and performance evaluation all come together,” according to Hankook officials. “In the context of electric-vehicle (EV)-specific technologies, artificial intelligence-driven data analysis and future mobility innovations, such as airless tires, it helps build the technical foundation for development by supporting data-driven research, cross-functional collaboration and the refinement of next-generation technologies that can later be validated through physical testing and real-world driving environments.” 

At the Technoring 

Hankook’s Technoring proving grounds is located in Taean-gun, South Korea. According to Hankook officials, the Technoring, which opened in 2022, spans more than 13 million square feet.  

It features 13 specialized tracks, including a high-speed oval on which cars can reach speeds of up to 150 miles per hour; separate wet and dry handling circuits; a hydroplaning curve; ride and structural durability courses; a special track that measures noise, vibration and harshness; gravel and off-road driving modules; a wet driving course that is kept perpetually damp thanks to a massive underground water tank; and other stations. 

Up to 50 vehicles — ranging from EVs to commercial trucks and buses — can operate simultaneously at the Technoring, which includes a 12-story control tower, where Hankook employees manage the entire facility from all angles. Every test at the sprawling complex is conducted in a single direction, with no intersections or opposing traffic. 

The Technoring also contains a workshop where tires are replaced and test vehicles are inspected. And it is equipped with enough space to store 4,500 wheels. 

“Hankook Technoring is responsible for the final stage of tire testing,” say Hankook officials. “At this stage, we test not only tire performance but how well it fits the vehicle. We compare results with automobile manufacturers. We also evaluate if the tires ... meet environmental regulations and label requirements.” 

The Technoring also tests Hankook’s future technologies, including airless tires for unmanned vehicles and intelligent tires that collect data while rolling. 

Expanding at OE 

Expanding its OE presence on the global stage will be a pillar of Hankook’s continued growth, according to company officials.

“We have built strong relationships with 50 vehicle brands worldwide, covering a wide range of the global audience,” Jihye Choi, manager, global OE technology, marketing team, said during a presentation at Hankook’s Technoplex. 

Hankook’s OE presence “is particularly strong in North America and Europe.” North America accounts for about 32% of the tire manufacturer’s OE tire sales, while Europe makes up around 34% of Hankook’s global OE tire sales. “At the same time, we also see future growth opportunities in China.” 

Barring a couple of dips, Hankook’s shipments to the OE channel have steadily increased over the last 20 years. In 2006, the company supplied around 20 million OE tires worldwide. By 2018, that number had increased to nearly 36 million units, but two years later dropped to 22.3 million units due to fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, Hankook’s global OE supply has resumed its upward trajectory, with full-year 2026 shipments expected to total around 27 million tires and a predicted 30 million worldwide OE units by 2030. 

Choi said manufacturers of premium vehicles account for around 18% of Hankook’s OE tire supply. “This shows how our premium OE business is expanding, not only in volume but also into more high performance and demanding (applications).” 

Hankook is also pursuing more fitments with electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers. “EVs account for around 10% of our global supply and we expect this share to increase to 33% in 2026 and 53% by 2030.” (In North America, Hankook has earned fitments on the Ford Mustang Mach E and other EVs.) 

Over the last decade, Hankook says it has supplied more than 68 million tires to North American OEMs, with 29 million entering the OE stream between 2021 and the first part of this year, Choi revealed. The company expects to ship an estimated 6.1 million OE units for full-year 2026. 

“Currently, we supply OE tires to seven of the 10 best-selling vehicles in the U.S. market,” said Choi. “This allows us to establish an ideal supply portfolio, covering most of North America’s most popular segments. Moving forward, we’ll continue to expand our OE presence across the region.” 

Hankook’s Clarksville plant, the beneficiary of a multi-year, $1.6 billion expansion project that will significantly boost its consumer tire production and has enabled U.S.-based TBR tire production, is expected to be a primary driver of the company’s growth in North America, supplying tires to both the OE and replacement channels. 

Hankook has completed phase two of its consumer tire production investment and phase three of TBR tire expansion at the plant.

“This year, we are ramping up production for an annual capacity of 11 million tires,” including 10 million consumer tires and one million TBR tires, said Choi, who added that the Clarksville plant produced around 4.4 million units last year. 

Passenger tire production makes up the majority (47%) of the plant’s current output. “Most of the production is applied with North America, with 93% going to the U.S., 4% to Mexico and 3% to Canada,” said Choi. 

All-in on EV tires

Hankook says it will continue its already-considerable investment in EV tire development. The company says it has  326 “EV-specific patents” and has secured 60 fitments across many of the world’s biggest EV manufacturers, including Hyundai, Kia, BMW, Rivian and others. 

Central to Hankook’s EV tire business is the iON line, which is sold around the world and was developed “from the ground up” in South Korea, said Choi. (The iON range arrived in North America four years ago via the introduction of two products, the iON evo AS and iON evo AS SUV.) 

iON tires are built on several “technology pillars” that combine structure, compound and tread pattern technologies designed to meet the performance demands of EVs, according to Hankook officials. That includes optimizing EV range.  

During a panel discussion at the Technodome, Mun Chul Jung, manager of Hankook’s PCR model development team, said the company’s testing “indicates iON tires have 77% higher mileage compared to our non-EV tires.” 

iON tires are mainly built at Hankook’s plants in South Korea and Hungary. Jung said Hankook is considering an all-terrain addition to the iON range. The line already offers an all-terrain tire, as well as a broad menu of passenger car tires. 

Leading with AI 

Hankook is moving to a virtual tire development process and is incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into its system. 

“Currently, development goes through a process that includes both physical and virtual testing,” said Antoine Boyadjian, senior manager, CAE technology research team, during the Technodome panel discussion. “We are trying to replace a number of physical tests with a simulator, so it’s still an iterative process, but a much faster process. At the end, there’s still the need for physical tests, but those will be minimal.” 

Virtual testing will reduce new Hankook tires' time to market by about half, said Boyadjian.  

“We have a designer who produces sketches of (tread) patterns that our engineers start modeling. Then they submit those to simulations. Instead of those sketches, we can use generative models, which can generate a virtually unlimited number of patterns.  

“We then use AI to create an assistant. These chatbots have access to our entire database of specifications, our test results and also our design specifications. For compound development, we have a chatbot.  

“What makes it difficult to create a new compound is that there is a large amount of materials used and properties that have a direct impact on tire performance,” he noted. “That’s why it takes about two years to create a new compound. With our AI models, we are able to generate up to 100,000 (compound) recipes per minute. 

“So on one side, you have tire engineers and on the other side, AI software engineers, and we work together,” said Boyadjian. “We try to model ... using our historical data of actual test results that we have accumulated over the past 10 years or so. Predictive models are all about data. 

“We also use these tools in all of our factories, all around the world. Technicians can run simulations and we can apply predictions” generated by Hankook’s AI system. 

“Our AI tool provides a lot of functions,” said Yong Choon Cho, another member of Hankook’s tire development team. By using AI, “we can explore unknown areas. We can explore different scenarios.” 

Hankook officials say the company will continue to leverage AI and other capabilities emanating from its facilities in South Korea to position itself for continued growth.