Hankook Tire & Technology is considering shutting down its plant in Hungary, considering the spread of the new coronavirus infection in Europe.
According to Hankook Tire on March 25, the company is considering suspending its Dunaujvaros plant in Hungary for eight days from March 30 (local time) to April 7.
The spread of COVID-19 in Europe has caused demand for tires to plummet as European carmakers such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz have been suspending operations. An official at Hankook Tire said that the company is considering shutting down its plant in Hungary, considering that European carmakers have stopped operations.
In Europe, European carmakers such as German Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler and BMW have been shut down.
Hankook Tire's Hungarian plant has the largest production capacity among its overseas plants. It has produced 18 million tires a year since it started operations in June 2007.
This is equivalent to 18 percent of Hankook Tire's annual total domestic and overseas production. It is the largest except for domestic plants.
Hankook Tire is supplying tires for new cars to some 320 brands of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi worldwide. In particular, it has focused on selling large tires with high profits in Germany, Britain, France, Hungary and Spain to target the European market.
