Hankook Tire to invest $1000 million in China for sixth tyre plant

ERJ staff report (DS)

Seoul, Korea -- Hankook Tire said it will build its global sixth manufacturing plant in

Chongqing Municipality of China. The sixth plant, which will be also

Hankook's third plant in China, will make car tyres as well as truck and bus tyres and the company said the plant will help fulfil its ambition to become the world's fifth largest tyre company within a

few years. The agreement also signifies Hankook Tire's global strategy to

achieve ongoing growth by establishing a solid production platform.

The new plant will be located in Liang Jiang Xin Qu of Chongqing Municipal, which is southwest of China's biggest industrial and commercial center. A total of USD 954 million will be invested to build the sixth production base and will cover an area of approximately 530,000 m². It will break ground in the first quarter of 2011 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.

Upon completion, the new plant will produce a total number of 11.5 million passenger car and truck-and-bus tyres, generating sales of USD 1 billion annually. It will also create about 4,600 new jobs in the region.

Currently, Hankook Tire is operating five production facilities around the globe - two in Korea (Geumsan and Daejeon), two in China (Jiaxing and Jiangsu), and one in Hungary (Rácalmás) - at 100% capacity since the third quarter of last year. The five plants have a total production capacity of 87 million units per year. With an additional sixth plant, the production capacity is expected to increase to 100 million units per year.

The company had previously said it was close to finalising a deal to buld the plant in Indonesia.

This is an external link and should open in a new window. If the window does not appear, please check your pop-up blocking software. ERJ is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Press release from Hankook