Hankook Tire supplies treads to Ford's Focus Active crossover

SEOUL, Dec. 13 (Yonhap) -- Hankook Tire Co., the world's seventh-largest tiremaker by sales, said Thursday it will supply high-performance treads to the Focus Active crossover made by Ford Motor Co.

In October, Hankook Tire began to supply the high-performance Ventus Prime3 threads to the Focus-based crossover hatchback in the form of original equipment (OE) tires, the company said in a statement.

The tiremaker has supplied tires to Ford vehicles, including the large F-150 pickup truck and the Econoline van since 1999, it said.

Supplying OE tires to car manufacturers does not generate much revenue for tiremakers but securing big companies as clients helps improve their brand image and can lead to the raising of product prices down the line.

For tiremakers, it is more profitable to sell replacement equipment (RE) tires in after-sales markets.

To enhance its global brand image, the tiremaker has shipped products to nearly 50 foreign carmakers, including Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.

Last year, Hankook Tire sold 99 million tires produced at its eight plants -- two in South Korea, three in China, one in Hungary, one in Indonesia and one in the United States.

Hankook Tire earns 30 percent of its total sales in the OE tire business, with the remaining 70 percent coming from RE tire sales.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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