Hankook’s 2021 Q2 financial results with consolidated global sales of KRW 1.806 trillion (EUR 1,336 million) and an operating profit reaching KRW 187 billion (EUR 138 million).
Hankook’s Steady Global Sales Growth
Hankook Tire delivered a strong quarter with sales and operating profit rising 32.4% and 167.1% YoY and 11.7% and 0.6% QoQ respectively. In particular, sales of both original equipment (OE) tyres and replacement (RE) tyres grew compared to the same period last year. In addition, global sales of 18 inches and higher tyres accounted for 38% of total passenger car and light truck tyre sales, a YoY increase of 5.4 percentage points.
Hankook Tire is showing continued increase in sales in several major markets including Europe, North America and China since the second half of last year. In particular, this quarter showed recovery in market demand in Europe and the U.S. The company saw a 6 percentage points increase in sales of 18 inches and higher along with a huge increase in sales of OE and RE tyres in Europe. As for the U.S. market, the sales of high-inch, OE and RE tyres showed a strong YoY growth even at a faster pace than that of market demand recovery. China also showed a strong increase in sales of high-inch tyres recording 8 percentage points YoY, leading to stability in sales, encouraging continued qualitative growth.
Hankook Tire is strengthening its leadership as a premium brand in supplying electric vehicle (EV)s and high-performance cars. Recently, Hankook to equip Ventus S1 evo3 ev to Volkswagen’s first all-electric SUV VW ID.4 and Audi’s first all-electric sports car Audi e-Tron GT. In addition to OE fitment, the company supplied Kinergy AS ev for “Volkswagen ID.4: Great Roadshow through the U.S.”, a cross-country tour which kicked off in July to travel over 36,000 miles across all 48 contiguous US states in all-electric Volkswagen ID.4.
As for the high-performance market, Hankook stated in July that the company is fitting the BMW X3 M and X4 M with Ventus S1 evo Z. The tyre was specially developed for the Ultra-Ultra-High-Performance segment for use on particularly sporty high-performance vehicles.
Seeking to reach a sales goal of of KRW 7 trillion in 2021, Hankook Tire will focus on securing further growth momentum of its high-inch tyre sales in major markets and continue to expand OE partnerships with global premium carmakers in the second half of this year. Growth in the electric vehicle tyre sector will remain as one of the major concentrations while continuously driving for both quantitative and qualitative growth through optimising distribution strategies tailored to each region.
