Hankook reports record sales
Korean Hankook Tire has announced its financial results for 2024, with consolidated sales growing by 5.3% to $6.9 billion and operating profit increasing by 32.7% to $1.3 billion.
As noted by Hankook, despite the global economic downturn, the company achieved record profitability, made possible by the increase in sales of high-value-added products, allowing the company to record its best financial performance in history and receive revenue and operating profit of $1.8 billion and $338.7 million, respectively, in the fourth quarter (compared to $1.79 billion and $345.8 million a year earlier).
The key driver of growth was the increase in the share of passenger car tires with a diameter of 18 inches or more in sales, which grew by 2.3 percentage points to 46.5%, and Hankook also continued to expand its supplies of tires for premium-class vehicles.
In 2024, Hankook tires were approved for the BMW M5 and Mercedes-AMG GT Coupé, and the company now supplies tires for 280 car models from 50 brands, such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, BYD, and Tesla.
Hankook is also actively expanding its presence in the electric vehicle tire market, where it offers the industry's first full-fledged specialized line called iON. The company emphasizes that it began developing key technologies for creating EV tires long before the widespread adoption of electric vehicles, and now supplies tires for such cars as the Audi e-tron GT and Q4 e-tron, BMW i4, BYD Song Max and Yuan, Hyundai Ioniq 6, Kia EV3 and EV9, Porsche Taycan, Tesla Model Y and Model 3, Volkswagen ID.4, and others.
Starting from 2025, Hankook has become the exclusive tire supplier for the World Rally Championship (WRC), one of the most prestigious racing series in the world, held under the auspices of the FIA. The company also continues to cooperate with the Formula E and Lamborghini Super Trofeo championships and uses the data obtained during its participation in motorsports during the development of civilian UHP-class tires.
In 2025, Hankook intends to continue increasing sales, maintain operating profitability at the level of 10%, and increase the share of large-size passenger car tires to more than 50% of the turnover.