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| Hankook Tire's high performance tires are equipped in Audi's SQ8 TDI SUV model. / Courtesy of Hankook Tire |
By Baek Byung-yeul
Hankook Tire & Technology has been working on improving profitability by focusing on sales of tires for premium vehicles amid a sales disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the leading tiremaker said Wednesday.
Hit by the virus pandemic, the entire automotive industry is struggling with falling demand. In such unusual times, Hankook Tire said it is ramping up its efforts to improve its market share and profitability by focusing more on original equipment tires (OET) ― tires included with newly manufactured vehicles.
In a bid to find a breakthrough, the tiremaker said it has been increasingly supplying tires to carmakers selling premium vehicles. The company said it has been signing contracts with luxury car brands to supply its products for inclusion in their production models.
The company said the OET market is important as it is an opportunity to prove that it has the capability to make globally competitive tires.
"The OET business is an essential one that could determine success or failure for a tiremaker. This is because we have to satisfy the carmakers' requirements and also need to be capable of supplying high-tech products on time when the clients are set to roll out their new vehicles," a Hankook Tire official said.
Based on its technological capability as one of the world's top-tier tiremakers and product competitiveness, Hankook Tire has secured strategic partnerships with premium carmakers. In the OET market, the tiremaker has been supplying around 320 kinds of tires to 46 carmakers, the company said.
One recent example showing Hankook Tire's competitiveness is that the company secured a deal to supply its high-performance tires for the German luxury brand Porsche's Taycan electric sports cars.
Hankook Tire said the supplying deal is meaningful to them as its technology has been recognized as the world's best by the German maker.
"Hankook Tire has been strengthening partnerships with Porsche since we signed a deal to supply our tires to Macan SUVs. Since then, we proved our capability in the OET market by supplying new tires to third-generation Cayenne SUVs," the Hankook Tire official said.
The company has been working with three prominent German brands ― Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi.
"Among Korean makers, Hankook Tire is the first company to supply tires to three German brands. Ranging from flagship luxury sedans such as BMW's new 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz's S Class to premium compact sedans such as the Mercedes-Benz C Class, Audi A4 and BMW 4 Series Coupe models, our OET business has been active," the company said.
Through constant technological innovation, Hankook Tire aims to strength its partnerships with premium carmakers to expand its OET business. It added its sales target in the market is not limited to just sedans as it has been expanding its product lineups to flagship sedans, high-performance sports cars, premium SUVs and other types of vehicles.
