Hankook Closes In on U.S. Plant Site

Hankook Tire Co. said that it is close to announcing specifics on a planned new tire plant in the U.S.

At a major international press event yesterday in Seoul, Cho Hyun Shick, CEO or Hankook Tire Worldwide, told Reuters that, “We are in talks with three U.S. states – Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia – to build a plant and we will decide the final site by the end of this year.” Hankook Tire Worldwide is the holding company that controls the tire operations.

In a separate media conference later in the day, Suh Seung-hwa, vice chairman and CEO of Hankook Tire Co., would only offer that Hankook is looking at “5 or 6 Southeastern states” to become home for its planned plant.

The plant would have a capacity of some 10 million tires per year.