Hankook Tire Establishes New R&D Center in Korea.

Hankook Tire prepares for relocation of the most important R&D center to Daejeon, Korea. The business philosophy of sustainable growth continues to extend

March 16, 2011, Seoul, Korea. Hankook Tire is preparing a change of location for the company's most important R&D center. As announced by the tyre manufacturer today, the new center is to be established in the Korean city of Daejeon. Seung Hwa Suh, Vice Chairman and CEO at Hankook Tire and Hong-Chul Yum, Mayor of Daejeon Metropolitan City, have already signed a contract that manifests the relocation of Hankook Tire to the research area in Daedeok Innopolis.

Covering an area of 66,000 square meters, Hankook Tire will establish the largest Korean research and development center for tyres. The new center intends to unite the different research and development departments at Hankook Tire under one roof after the completion of construction work in 2013. The current center will be converted and used in the future for research work on new production technologies and for tyre testing, which have taken place in Geumsan up until now.

"The ongoing growth of Hankook Tire is driven by the continuing investments in research and development. Our tyre constructors are some of the best in the world and they develop tyres at the highest technical level", explains Seung Hwa Suh, Vice Chairman and CEO at Hankook Tire. "We have ambitious goals. With the new R&D center, we will extend our technological advantage even further so that we can continue to supply customers throughout the world with top quality tyres".

Sustainable growth has always been a fixed part of the Hankook Tire business philosophy. The tyre manufacturer will be entering a new research era of environmentally-friendly materials and technologies with the new center. The continual investments also pay for themselves in other ways. The innovative technologies of Hankook Tire's first class high performance tyres are in extreme demand throughout the world.

The Europe Technical Center in Hannover-Langenhagen develops high performance tyres that are specially customised for the European market. Hankook uses top technologies to work on innovations such as the new rubber compounds and optimized profiles. There are international research centres on sites in Korea, China, Japan and the USA. Every year, the tyre manufacturer invests around 5 percent of its profits in research and development. Six percent of all employees work exclusively in the research centres.


Image: Hankook Tire Vice Chairman and CEO Mr. Seung Hwa Suh (left) and Daejeon Metropolitan City Mayor Mr. Hong-Chul Yum (right) sign MOU for the relocation and expansion of the company’s Main R&D Center in Korea.

About Hankook Tire
Hankook Tire is one of the world's largest and fastest growing tyre manufacturers for innovative, high- quality and high-performance radial tyres for passenger cars, light trucks, SUVs, RVs, trucks, and buses as well as motorsports (circuit racing/rallies). The company invests some five percent of its revenues in R&D every year. Their five Research and Development labs in Korea, Germany, USA, China and Japan develop the very latest in market-specific, customised and innovative technologies. They greatly contribute in providing optimal tyre solutions designed to meet the regional requirements and demands of their customers. Hankook Tire employs more than 14,000 employees worldwide and sells its products in more than 180 countries. Internationally leading car manufacturers rely on tyres made by Hankook Tire for their original equipment. About 70 percent of Hankook's income is generated by sales outside Korea.

Hankook Tires European headquarters are located in Neu-Isenburg near Frankfurt am Main. The company has branches in Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Hungary, Russia, Turkey, Sweden and Poland. Hankook products are sold directly through regional distributors in other European countries. The importance that Hankook Tire attaches to the European market is reflected in its decision to invest more than 500 million Euros in the construction of a production facility in Hungary, which went into operation in June 2007. Here, more than 1,300 employees produce more than 15,000 tyres a day (this amounts to more than five million tyres a year) for passenger cars, SUVs and light trucks in more than 300 different sizes. The state-of-the-art facility produces customised products and original equipment tyres for the European market in line with the specifications of leading European automobile manufacturers. Following the second stage of expansion which started in 2009, the Hungarian facility should be able to produce more than ten million tyres per year when operating at full capacity.

For more information please visit www.hankooktire-press.com

Felix Kinzer
Director Public Relations Europe
Hankook Tire Europe GmbH
Siemensstr. 5a
D-63263 Neu-Isenburg
Fon: +49 (0) 61 02 8149 – 170
Fax: +49 (0) 61 02 8149 – 200
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Stefanie Weinelt
Public Relations
Hankook Tire Europe GmbH
Siemensstr. 5a
D-63263 Neu-Isenburg
Fon: +49 (0) 61 02 8149 – 171
Fax: +49 (0) 61 02 8149 – 200
Denne e-postadressen er beskyttet mot programmer som samler e-postadresser. Du må aktivere JavaScript for å kunne se adressen