Hankook Tire Q1 Operating Profit Down 11%... "Hanon Systems Results Consolidated"

Hankook Tire & Technology (hereafter Hankook Tire) announced on May 9 that its global consolidated sales for the first quarter of 2025 reached 4.9636 trillion KRW, with operating profit at 354.6 billion KRW. While sales increased by 133% compared to the same period last year, operating profit decreased by 11%.

This quarter, the performance of Hanon Systems, an automotive thermal energy management solutions company that became a subsidiary of Hankook Tire in January 2025, was reflected in the consolidated results. Accordingly, Hankook Tire reported results including both the tire segment and the thermal management segment.

Sales in the tire segment reached 2.3464 trillion KRW, a 10.3% increase year-on-year, while operating profit was 333.6 billion KRW, a 16.3% decrease compared to the same period last year. The decline in operating profit was attributed to increases in key costs such as raw material prices and ocean freight rates. Hanon Systems recorded sales of 2.6173 trillion KRW and operating profit of 20.9 billion KRW.

Within passenger car and light truck tire sales, the proportion of high-inch tires (18 inches and above) rose by 0.3 percentage points year-on-year to 47.1%. By major region, China had the highest proportion at 64.7%, followed by Korea at 58.5%, North America at 57.1%, and Europe at 39.1%, indicating balanced growth across all global regions. For original equipment (OE) tire sales for passenger cars and light trucks, the proportion of tires dedicated to electric vehicles reached 23%, a 6 percentage point increase from the same period last year.

Hankook Tire expanded sales of high value-added products by increasing the supply of original equipment tires to global premium automakers. In addition, sales of electric vehicle-dedicated tires also increased, coinciding with the replacement cycle for electric vehicle tires, which further boosted overall sales.

Notably, in the first quarter, Hankook Tire supplied the Ventus evo SUV, an ultra-high-performance tire dedicated to SUVs, as original equipment for the third-generation Tiguan SUV model from Volkswagen in Germany.

Hankook Tire will continue its efforts to enhance the premium image of its global unified brand 'Hankook' and develop ultra-high-performance tire technologies through motorsports sponsorships. The company supplies racing tires and sponsors participating teams in more than 70 global motorsports events, including the FIA World Rally Championship. The data accumulated through these activities is applied to research and development (R&D) to further strengthen its technological competitiveness.