SEOUL, Oct 14 (Reuters) - South Korean tyre maker Hankook Tire Co Ltd on Monday said it plans to spend $800 million on building its first U.S. factory to capitalise on the recovery of the second-biggest car market and catch up with larger rivals.
Hankook Tire in a press release said it expects to break ground on the factory in Tennessee by the end of 2014 and begin operations in 2016. It will have an annual production capacity of 11 million tyres.
Hankook Tire has seven factories in Korea, China, Indonesia and Hungry which have a combined capacity of 93.8 million tyres.