Toyo Tyre UK
TOYO TYRE UK have set off at lightening speed in the first quarter of 2008. The company posted a record-breaking month in January with the highest number of passenger car sales being recorded since the birth of the company 3 years ago. January was then followed by equally impressive sales in February and what looks like a strong sales month for March.
Summing on how these sales have been achieved, Martin Sutherland [General Manger Sales] added;
"TUK is committed to remaining the true friend for independent tyre retailers. We offer them a wide range of Passenger, Van, 4X4 and Truck products for all market applications. This is then backed up by excellent stock availability, market leading quality performance and superb profit opportunities. I have no doubt that these attributes are fuelling demand for our product.
"TOYO are the tyre of choice for all car enthusiasts. Driven by our philosophy of connecting mind, tyre and driving response we invest heavily in high performance and ultra-high performance product development. We then prove this technology in the highly competitive world of Motorsport."
So if you want to join the TOYO TIRES family visit www.toyo.co.uk
or contact them at: info@toyo.co.uk or call us on 01933 411144

Hankook Tyre
Hankook Tyre remains one of the fastest growing tyre manufacturers in the world, posting global sales of KRW3.2 trillion (US$3.4 billion) in 2007. Hankook Tyre also announced a profit margin of 8.1%, with consolidated operating profit increasing 5.1% to KRW263.6 billion (2006's operating profit margin of 8.7% was the highest among all major tyre makers outstripping the nearest competitor by over 2 points). The company's consistent investment of approximately 5% of revenue in R&D continued to pay dividends toward its reputation for quality and high-performance tyres. Growth factors included a 9% increase in European sales in the 4th quarter, 2007 and a 10.5% year-on year increase in global ultra-high performance tyre sales.
Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Seung Hwa Suh said, "Our focus on improving global management structures and processes in recent years has maintained our ability to balance increasing global sales with industry-leading profit margins. Despite a challenging year for the industry as a whole, our strategy of increasing the quality and reputation of our products has allowed us to build margins without adversely affecting our sales growth in both new and established markets for the Hankook brand."
Cost of sales increased by 12.4% in 2007. Raw material costs supplied to Korea production facilities - including the cost of rubber and oil products - increased by 2.5% year-on-year. Costs remained high with the average quarterly cost of raw materials at US$1,721 per ton.
Hankook Tyre remains positive about 2008 growth prospects. The company is aggressively targeting global sales approaching approximately KRW3.9 trillion representing potential growth of 19.6%. This target reflects increasing demand for Hankook's high-performance tyres, increased capacity through its recently opened €500 million European production facility in Hungary and investment in ultra-high performance tyre production at its fully-automated, flagship Geumsan facility in Korea.
The company produced almost a million tyres in Hungary in its first 6 months and expects an additional 4 million tyres to be produced in 2008. The continuous investment at Geumsan will increase production capacity for profitable ultra-high performance tyres; by the end of 2009, capacity will have increased by 50% or 5 million units annually. Mr. Suh, discussing Hankook's investment activities, continued, "The new facility in Europe is increasing our ability to meet the increasing demand for our products and also helping the company spread risk and reduce logistics costs. The final completion of the Hungarian facility will reduce delivery times from over one month to within five days to all locations in Europe."

Gearing up for another busy year
Hankook's impressive growth over the past 10 years shows no signs of easing in 2008 as it gears up for another busy year, reinforcing their position across all aspects of the UK's growing tyre industry.
Poised to prevail at the NEC where the Commercial Vehicle Show, Britain's largest transport and logistics event, gets underway in April, the Daventry-based manufacturer, which is now the world's seventh largest tyre maker, is planning further advances in the high performance, 4x4 and OE markets where it has made a significant impact since setting up in the UK in the early 1990s.
The unveiling of four new deep tread tyres at Birmingham, designed specifically for trucks will kick off a series of product launches in 2008 aimed at increasing market share in all sectors.
Over the next few months, there will be other activities to strengthen the Hankook brand in a fiercely competitive environment.
Sponsorship of Julian Reynolds' Hankook Subaru in the 2008 Gravel Rally Championships, starting with the Rallye Sunseeker in February, ensured Hankook is kept high in the motorsport public's eye.
The company's bid to extend its OE contracts, which currently number in excess of 16 million tyres to various Ford, Volvo, Renault, Smart, Hyundai, Kia, Daewoo and Mitsubishi models, was recently boosted by a new agreement with Volkswagen for the yearly delivery of 70,000 Dynapro HP tyres for the all new model VW Tiguan.
The tyres will be made at the company's new manufacturing facility in Hungary and it is hoped the new business will attract other contracts throughout Europe, to further boost Hankook's staffing levels and sales, which in 2007 increased by 13%.
Mark Grace, Product Marketing and Pricing Manager from Hankook said 2008 was shaping up to be the busiest since the company started operating in the UK.