Thursday, May 30th, 2013
SEOUL, KOREA - Hankook Tire is going ahead with the expansion plan of its plant in Racalmas, Hungary, committing 313 million euros (US$405 million) over two years to boost capacity for car and light truck tires by 42 percent. The expansion will boost the plant's annual capacity to 17 million tires and create 950 additional jobs at the plant in central Hungary south of Budapest. Work on the project will start next month, with initial production expected to begin by mid-2014 before reaching full capacity in 2015.
Suh Seung Hwa, Hankook Tire vice chairman of Hankook Tire, said, "As a key investor in Hungary and an important market player in the European automotive industry, we will continue to explore opportunities to meet the growing demand of our consumers, offering state-of-the-art tire technologies."
The Racalmas plant opened in 2007 with an initial annual capacity of 6 million tires. Output reached 9 million in 2011 and last year grew to 12 million, Hankook said. Employment stands at about 2,200.