Hankook Tire picks Nashville for North American headquarters
Move comes as Hankook Tire plans to start making tires in Clarksville by year's end
- Hankook Tire America Corp. is currently headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey.
- The Nashville headquarters is latest boost for the region's growing automotive base, which includes global tire-related businesses
Hankook Tire plans to set up its North American headquarters in Nashville, according to people familiar the official announcement expected Wednesday.
The move comes as the South Korea-based company is expected by year's end to start production at what will eventually be a $800 million tire manufacturing plant in Clarksville. At full operation, that 469-acre plant is expected to employ up to 1,800 people in that Montgomery County city.
Hankook's new plans for Nashville would be the latest boost for the region's growing automotive base, which includes global tire-related businesses. Middle Tennessee is also home to Japanese-linked Bridgestone Americas in Nashville and Italy-tied Marangoni Tread North America Inc. in Madison, with China-based Triangle Tire USA also recently setting up its U.S. headquarters in Franklin.
It's unclear how many jobs Hankook's headquarters would create in Nashville. In breaking ground on its first U.S. manufacturing plant in Clarksville a year and a half ago, the company said that location would allow for a more efficient distribution of tires in the North American market while opening more opportunities to strengthen relationships with U.S.-based automakers for original equipment tire supplies.
Car-making operations in the Nashville area include Nissan North America’s headquarters in Franklin and manufacturing plant in Smyrna. General Motors also has a manufacturing plant in Spring Hill.
Murat Arik, director of Middle Tennessee State University's Business and Economic Research Center, expects Hankook's move to attract additional foreign direct investments and other auto manufacturing opportunities to the Nashville region.
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"We are basically strengthening the supply chain in auto manufacturing in Middle Tennessee and this will actually make the region a strong hub of the advance manufacturing," he said.
Arik estimates as many as 15,000 auto-related manufacturing jobs currently in Middle Tennessee.
Gov. Bill Haslam, state Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd, House Speaker Beth Harwell and Nashville Mayor Megan Barry are expected to attend what's being billed as a "significant economic development announcement" at the Capitol Building on Wednesday.
Before Clarksville, Hankook's investments in the United States included establishing its American regional headquarters in 1981 and Akron Technical Center in 1992. Currently, the Seoul-based company's Hankook Tire America Corp. subsidiary has headquarters in Wayne, N.J., with distribution centers in New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, Illinois, California and Oregon.
Based on Hankook's current timetable, the Clarksville plant is expected to be fully built and functioning at maximum capacity with 1,800 employees a year or two before 2020.
Reach Getahn Ward at 615-726-5968 and on Twitter @getahn.