Seoul, Korea / Neu-Isenburg, Germany, 30 April 2024 – Premium tyre manufacturer Hankook announced sales of KRW 2,127.2 billion (approx. EUR 1,474.0m) and an operating profit of KRW 398.7 billion (approx. EUR 276.2m) based on the global consolidated financial results for the first quarter of 2024. Sales increased 1.1 percent year-on-year (YoY), and operating profit increased 108.8 percent.

Despite the global economic downturn and the tensions in the Middle East, Hankook has continued to grow under the leadership of Hankook & Company Group Chairman Hyunbum Cho, who strategically chose to invest in research and development (R&D) in anticipation of the future mobility market. Furthermore, Hankook has yielded success by leading the EV tyre market and expanding sales of high-value products based on its supercar and global premium brand strategy.

Due to the company's early emphasis on developing tyre technology for high-performance premium electric vehicles, Hankook is now at the forefront of the worldwide EV tyre market, dominating the industry even before EVs became widely available. Hankook has continued diversifying its portfolio for the tyre brand iON since its release and is currently selling 202 tyre specifications ranging from 16 to 22 inches. In March 2023, iON outperformed rivals from top-tier brands in a test conducted by TÜV SÜD, a global testing and certification agency.

This year, the company aims to boost the proportion of EV tyres in its passenger car and light truck (PCLT) Original Equipment Tyre (OET) supply to 25 percent. Hankook is now providing OET for electric vehicle models for the Audi e-tron GT, BMW i4, Hyundai Ioniq 6, Porsche Taycan, Tesla Model Y, and Model 3 and Volkswagen ID.4.

In PCLT tyre sales, the proportion of sales of high-inch passenger tyres (18 inches and above) was 46.8 percent, up 3.3 percentage points YoY. By region, the share of high-inch passenger tyres was highest in China (62.5 percent), followed by Korea (56.5 percent), North America (56.4 percent) and Europe (37.4 percent).

As a world-leading tyre company, Hankook has consolidated its global technological competitiveness by fulfilling the tyre performance requirements of high-performance vehicles and global premium brands, currently supplying new tyres for more than 250 models from nearly 40 automakers, including Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Tesla.

Hankook is also positioning itself as the world’s leading EV tyre technology and premium brand. Since the 2023 season, Hankook has been the exclusive tyre supplier and official technical partner of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, the world’s premier EV racing competition. Also, Hankook is focusing on developing tyre technology and improving the performance of EV tyres by leveraging the data acquired from the competition to improve its product line.

Prices of raw materials such as synthetic rubber and carbon black were maintained at a decent level, as were ocean freight costs, contributing to this quarter’s solid performance.

Q1 2024 Consolidated Financial Result

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(NOTE: Average exchange rates for the given annual period were retrieved from Korea Exchange Bank)