Hankook

Hankook Tire & Technology Co., Ltd., also known simply as Hankook , is a South Korean tire company based in Seoul. It is the seventh-largest tire company in the world.[1] It is a part of Hankook & Company.

History

Hankook Tire was established in 1941 as "Chosun Tire Company" and was renamed to "Hankook Tire Manufacturing" in 1968. Hankook literally means "Korea". Chosun means beautiful morning.

The company now supplies tires as original equipment to various automakers.[2][3][4] In addition to producing about 102 million tires annually, the company also sells batteries, alloy wheels, and brake pads.

Motorsports involvement

Hankook entered motorsports in Europe, North America, and in Asia. They signed with FBR (Farnbarcher Racing) to race a Ferrari F430 GT with Hankook Tires in the 2009 Le Mans Series season. The company supplied tires for the Primetime Race Group that raced in the GT2 class of the American Le Mans Series in 2008. It supplied tires from 2007 to 2009 for IMSA Prototype Lites, a support series for the American Le Mans Series. Since 2009, the Hankook Team Farnbacher has competed in the GT class of the Le Mans Series. It also supplies tires for the Hankook KTR team that races in the Super GT and the Asian Le Mans Series and for the Formula 3 Euroseries.

In rallying, Hankook were the series sponsors of the Scottish Rally Championship.[12] Its tires have been used at the European-based Intercontinental Rally Challenge as well.

Hankook was the tire supplier of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters from 2011 to 2020.

Hankook sponsored Formula Drift driver Chris Forsberg, a three-time champion (with his most recent championship coming as recent as the 2016 season), until the 2018 season. Hankook was also involved in drifting sponsorship in a number of countries, most notably in North America in the Formula D championship and in Ireland in the Prodrift championship.

Hankook was the official tire supplier for Super Taikyu championship series that held in Japan from 2021 until 2023.[13] Due the fire severely damaged Hankook's Daejeon plant in 2023, the company withdrawn its supplying contract for the Super Taikyu series.[14] As the result, Bridgestone took over Hankook's position in Super Taikyu on 24 April 2023 and effective immediately, as initially announced to start the contract for the 2024 season.[15]

Hankook replaced Michelin as the official tire supplier for Formula E for its third-generation car starting from the 2022–23 season[16] to the 2025–26 season.[17]

Starting in 2025, Hankook will be the official tire supplier for the World Rally Championship, replacing Pirelli, on a three-year contract.[17]

native name	한국타이어앤테크놀로지 주식회사
native name lang	ko
type	Public
industry	Auto and truck parts
foundation	May 10, 1941 (as Chosun Tire Company)
founder	Cho Hong-jai
location	Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, South Korea
key people	Cho Hyun-bum (CEO)
num employees	21,000 Worldwide
brands	* Hankook ** Optimo * Laufenn
revenue	KRW 8,394 billion (2022)
net income	KRW 705 billion (2022)
parent	Hankook & Company
homepage	www.hankooktire.com

History

Facts and figures

Global offices

Motorsports involvement

Sponsorships

Awards

External links

References