Bin Shihon Group and Hankook Tire celebrated the 40th anniversary of their strategic partnership Monday, with Seung Hwa Suh, Vice Chairman and global CEO of the Korean tire giant Hankook, visiting Jeddah to mark the occasion. During the ceremony, Marwan Bin Shihon, the vice-president Bin Shihon Group, welcomed Suh and his delegation, stating that this fruitful alliance has helped Bin Shihon to capture the dominant share of the Saudi tire market today. This partnership has been spurred by their common aim to provide the highest quality of product and customer satisfaction without compromise, he noted. Bin Shihon further said "the huge volume of our investments enabled us to raise the number of Hankook tire distributors to more than 40 distributors' Kingdom-wide in addition to our investments in tire service centers and highly technical warehousing facilities to enable us to achieve the highest consumer satisfaction and meet their needs." He assured the attendees that "90 percent of the tires sold here are specifically designed for the local market," adding that his company will continue to pursue policies toward excellence. Currently, Bin Shihon-Hankook partnership has 6 integrated service centers (Hankook Masters) and 15 state-of-the-art warehousing facilities controlled via satellite to meet the needs and requirements of their network of distributors and customers. It has also a network of more than 10,000 shops to fix flat tires. For his part, Suh stressed that Bin Shihon are more than business partners. They are more like a family member, with a relationship forged on mutual trust with the common aim of delivering a top quality product. He added that current global production stood at 93 million tires from five manufacturing plants, with the target of 100 million in two years. Admitting that supplies were restricted due to current manufacturing capacity, Suh added that 2 additional manufacturing plants were being set up in Indonesia and China to help alleviate the shortage. Hankook's aim is to be the top tire producer world-wide by 2020. Over 5 percent of the company's income goes into research and development. In addition to sponsoring major sports events globally, Hankook tires are being used as OEM on a variety of trucks and vehicles including high-end cars such as BMW and Audi. "Sports marketing is an integral part of our overall strategy," Suh pointed out. Hankook Tire Company is among the world's leading tire producers. In 2011 the company sales generated more than $6 billion, an increase of 16 percent from the year before. It is evident that this company and their Saudi alliance with Bin Shihon is on the move upwards. The partnership aims to conquer 25 percent of the Saudi tire market. __
