Hankook Tire Co. unveiled its blueprint for its expanded presence in the United States in which it will build a tire plant and try to grab a 15 percent share of the country’ s auto tire market.

The leading tire maker in the world will also strengthen its marketing campaign in Europe through its Motor Sport Marketing Team, and at the same time boost its marketing activities in North America to sell more auto tires in the region.

The tire maker held a meeting for its North American dealers in Cancun, Mexico, on Feb. 18 and President Cho Hyun-bum explained the company’ s strategy for the region.

Cho said, “Our ultimate goal in the region is to boost our market share from 12 percent to 15 percent under a long-term strategy.” Plans include increasing tire production at its U.S. plant by 5 percent annually. In order to achieve the target, the company plans to build a tire plant in the United States very soon to expand its supply line and strengthen its competitive edge in the region.

Cho said he has been holding consultations with a number of state governments in the United States and will decide very soon on a site for the projected tire plant and begin construction within this year.

One of the reasons for the tire maker to turn to North America from Europe, where most of its tires are sold, is to boost its market share in the region in order to be a genuine global tire company.

“We ought to double our market share in the U.S., the third largest auto market in the world, to achieve the level of profit growth that the company should have for its growth,” an official of the tire company said. He added that President Cho flew to Cancun to meet the dealers himself and explain the company’ s strategy for North America in order to encourage them to work harder and to let them know the importance of the region to the company’ s operations.

The company plans to produce OE tires for new cars in North America in an effort to boost its brand image in the region. President Cho said the production of OE tires by the company would be worth more than the $250 million spent on ads to boost the company’ s brand image. He said the company is in the middle of talks with a number of German carmakers to expand the supply of OE tires to them. Hankook Tire has been supplying auto tires to the three major German automakers including BMW, Audi, and Mercedes Benz. The company has also been in talks with U.S. carmakers including GM, Chrysler, and Ford on the supply of OE tires.

The company projects the sale of its auto tires in North America will total around 1.52 trillion won this year, up 22.9 percent on year, with the company ready to launch the sale of the Ventus S1, a high-quality auto tire, from this month in the United States and Canada, along with winter tires, to boost its North America market share to 5.4 percent this year.

The company will also conduct sports marketing in the United States, particularly in major league baseball, to follow its success in sports marketing in Europe, which greatly helped to boost its brand image.

The sports marketing campaign will include hanging Hankook Tire ads in 28 major league baseball parks and holding marketing events in cooperation with the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox, among other teams.