Ford F-150 to sport Hankook tires

SEOUL, South Korea (June 10)—Ford Motor Co. has awarded South Korea's Hankook Tire Manufacturing Co. a multiyear contract to supply tires for Ford's new F-150 pickup truck. Ford recently launched the 2004 version of the F-150, the single largest selling personal transportation vehicle in North America. Ford projects annual sales of more than 800,000 units for the F-150. Hankook is making the tires, the DynaPro RH03 and DynaPro AT RF08 in sizes P235/70R17S XL and P235/75R17S, in China, where it operates two plants—Jiangsu Hankook Tire in Jiangsu and Hankook Tire Jiaxing Co. Ltd. in Jiaxing. The contract represents Hankook's first OE supply deal for the road tires on a North American vehicle. Hankook has supplied mini spares to Ford for the compact Focus since 1999 and more recently took over the spare tire contract for Ford's Escape sport-utility vehicle. Besides Ford, Hankook also sells tires to France's Renault S.A., Sweden's Volvo A.B. and Germany's Volkswagen A.G., the tire maker said.