Kumho boosts sales
Despite the major fire, the Kumho Tire factory in Gwangju, South Korea, has not been operating for over two months, the company reported record sales and profit growth in the second quarter of 2025. During the reporting period, Kumho's revenue grew by 7.9% to 1.22 trillion won ($880 million), and operating profit increased by 15.6% to 175.2 billion won ($130 million).
In addition to achieving a new record sales level, Kumho has also consistently generated revenue of over 1 trillion won ($720 million) for seven consecutive quarters, with an average operating margin of 13.5% due to increased supplies of high-margin large-diameter tires. As of the second quarter of 2025, the share of large-size tires in sales was 43.4%, and the share of tires for electric vehicles in supplies to the primary equipment sector increased to 20.3%.
In the second half of the year, Kumho intends to continue to increase sales by attracting new customers and expanding supplies in key global markets such as North America and Europe. Additionally, the company plans to strengthen its position in the premium tire segment and update its product portfolio, starting with the release of the all-season touring model Solus Advance and three UHP-class tires: Ecsta Sport, Ecsta Sport S, and Ecsta Sport A/S.
Kumho has also reached an agreement with the trade union regarding plans to restart the Gwangju factory and subsequently relocate production to Hampyeong. Gwangju has two production sites, and the one that was not affected by the fire will be restarted by the end of the year with a capacity of 6,000 tires per day (about 20% of the design capacity). Since semi-finished products were produced at the second site, which was destroyed by the fire, they will be manufactured at the Koksone plant and purchased from external suppliers.
According to the approved plan, Kumho will also begin construction of the first phase of the Hampyeong factory with a capacity of 5.3 million tires per year, which is expected to be launched in January 2028. After that, the Gwangju site will be sold, and the company will relocate production to Hampyeong, where the second phase of the factory will be launched.
Earlier, the trade union refused to accept the management's plan, demanding that the new factory's capacity be more than 6 million tires per year (Kumho planned to limit it to 3 million tires), fearing that the company, which intends to build a new tire plant in Europe, would reduce production in Korea. Since the disagreements with the trade union have been resolved, it is expected that Kumho will now accelerate the implementation of the investment project in Europe.
In April 2025, shortly before the fire in Gwangju, Kumho's CEO, Jeon Il-taek, confirmed that the company is ready to build its own factory in Europe, and production may be located in Poland, Serbia, or Portugal. Unlike the other two leading Korean tire manufacturers, Hankook and Nexen, Kumho does not have production in Europe, while last year this market accounted for about 25% of the company's revenue.
It is expected that Kumho will invest around $600 million in the European project, and the factory's capacity will be around 6 million tires per year.