Hankook Tire Opens 7th Global Production Plant in Indonesia

WEST JAVA, INDONESIA – Sept 18, 2013: Hankook Tire, the leading and one of the fastest growing tyre companies in the world, yesterday held the official opening ceremony for its seventh global plant in Indonesia. Located in Lippo Cikarang, Bekasi, West Java, the company’s newest plant will act as an export base for the North America and Middle East markets as well as a regional business hub for the emerging Asian market, with production capacity up to six-million tyres per year.

On September 17th, two years and three months after construction started, Hankook Tire celebrated the grand opening of its newest Indonesia plant with the presence of Hankook Tire’s top executives, including Mr. Seung Hwa Suh (Vice Chairman and CEO of Hankook Tire), Mr. Hyun Shick Cho (President and CEO of Hankook Tire Worldwide) and Mr. Hyun Bum Cho (President and CMO/CCMO of Hankook Tire). The President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was welcomed by Hankook Tire’s top executives to commemorate the plant opening, along with a number of Indonesian government officials.

Hankook Tire’s Indonesia Plant, built in a strategically important location, will be a major growth factor contributing to the company’s continued global business expansion. Of the total production capacity of six-million tyres a year, approximately 30 percent will be allocated to cater for the Indonesian domestic market, while the remaining 70 percent will be exported to serve the demands of emerging markets across the globe including ASEAN region, North America and Middle East.

Covering an area of 60 hectares, the Hankook Tire Indonesia Plant is a modern manufacturing facility equipped to produce mainly passenger car tyres, Ultra-High Performance (UHP) tyres, and light truck tyres.

“Today’s commemoration of the Indonesia plant opening marks yet another milestone in Hankook Tire’s ongoing growth as a global top-tier tyre company. This is also a clear manifestation of our strong will and commitment for further growth together with Indonesia and other emerging economies,” said Mr. Seung Hwa Suh, Vice Chairman and CEO of Hankook Tire. He also added, “As a leading global tyre company, we will continue our relentless efforts to supply customers around the world with more advanced, globally acclaimed tyres via our new export base in Indonesia.”

The company currently employs approximately 1400 staff members and will increase this to a total of 4300 employees by 2018.

Reflecting Hankook Tire’s commitment to further growth and business engagement in Indonesia, Hankook Tire has established its end-to-end distribution channel, called Hankook Masters. In Indonesia, Hankook Tire has already established its Hankook Masters outlets in Surabaya and Bandung, targeting to increase the number to 30 outlets by the end of this year. In Australia, the Hankook Masters program was launched successfully in 2011 and now boasts a network of 140 Hankook Masters dealers nationwide.