The Market is Ripe for Korean Tyre Makers: An average 'Korean' tyre costs ￡62.25 and is increasingly fitted as OE

摘要

2009 could be a breakthrough year for the Korean tyre-makers. A collection of circumstances (some clearly the result of famed Far Eastern forward planning, and others distinctly more fortuitous), mean Kumho, Hankook and Nexen have found themselves poised to sell increasing numbers of replacement tyres in the UK and Europe. In addition, their successful efforts in the OE department -ironically helped along by the shaky macro-economic environment - mean this perfect storm of variables could leave the Korean manufacturers in an even stronger position when the dust settles. Recent research shows that since 1991 Bridgestone, Michelin, and Goodyear have lost 7.3 percentage points of global market share. They remain clearly dominant, but their statistical decline is arguably making way for companies like Hankook, Kumho and Nexen which are making significant gains.