AKRON (Oct. 11, 2013) — Hankook Tire U.S.A. Inc. is not commenting on media reports that it has selected a site in Tennessee for the U.S. tire factory it's planning, saying only, "Negotiations are still in process and further announcement will be released upon finalization."
Executives of Hankook's parent, Seoul, South Korea-based Hankook Tire Co. Ltd., said in September the company was considering sites in Tennesse, Georgia and South Carolina as the leading candidates for the consumer tire plant.
At that time they said they expected to decide by year-end on a site.
This week South Korea's Yonhap news agency, quoting a "senior U.S. auto industry official, reported that Hankook is in final negotations with officials in Tennessee on the plant site and that Hankook officials were expected to visit the state next week to finalize details.
Annual capacity of the plant will be between 5 million and 10 million units per year, according to Hyun Shick Cho, CEO and president of Hankook Tire Worldwide Co. Ltd. The company has not disclosed what it expects to spend to build the plant, but it would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, based on comparably sized projects built in recent years.
