South Korea’s Hankook & Co Group announced it plans to double its production capacity in the US in the next year, as it prepares for an era of tougher trading conditions under the new Donald Trump-led US government.
Donald Trump confirmed this week that his government will impose a 25% import tariff on vehicles and components entering the country from the 2nd April, forcing major trading partners to come up with new business strategies.
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Many global automotive companies have already announced plans to step up their investments in the US in response to expected tariff hikes by the US, including Hyundai Motor Group which this week announced it will invest US$21bn in the country in the next four years. The automaker only recently completed construction of a third plant in the US, a US$5.5bn electric vehicle (EV) plant in the US state of Georgia with a production capacity of 300,000 units per year.
Hankook’s chairman, Cho Hyun-bum, confirmed this week that the company is reviewing and resetting its global strategies, with a view to strengthening its core in-house technologies and addressing the global trade uncertainties of the new “Trump era.”
Following a series of strategy meetings this week at its new Techno Plex headquarters in Pangyo, in Gyeonggi province, the company reconfirmed earlier plans to double capacity at its tyre plant in Clarksville in the US state of Tennessee, while also doubling capacity at its nearby battery plant.
Hankook confirmed that it will expand passenger vehicle and light truck tyre production capacity from 5.5 million to 12 million units annually by the first half of 2026, lifting its total investment in the plant to US$1.6 billion. The company said it will also focus more on performance tyres, as it looks to improve its production mix and increase revenues and earnings from its US operations.
The group also plans to increase its production capacity of automotive lead-acid batteries in Clarksville to 3 million units by next year, with further plans to increase premium AGM batteries output to 5 million units per year by 2030. It also revealed plans to strengthen its distribution networks in the Asia-pacific region.
Cho Hyun-bum Cho confirmed his company is “closely monitoring the economic and trade policies of the Trump administration and preparing various proactive measures in response to the US government’s actions. As a company with national core technologies, we are focusing on the ‘swift execution’ of strategies to contribute to strengthening national competitiveness and enhancing our status.”
