Nexen Tire's sales topped 3 trillion won for the first time last year. However, operating profit fell slightly from a year earlier due to the impact of high U.S. tariffs.
Nexen Tire said on the 4th that, on a consolidation basis, sales came to 3.1896 trillion won last year, up 12.0% from a year earlier. After annual sales surpassed 2 trillion won for the first time in 2019, it broke through 3 trillion won in six years.
A Nexen Tire official said the "stable performance of the phase-two capacity expansion at the Europe plant" helped, adding that "even as management uncertainties grew, including U.S. item tariffs, our efforts to expand sales paid off."
However, last year's operating profit was 170.3 billion won, down 1.1% from a year earlier. The result reflects, in part, the impact of U.S. tariffs. A Nexen Tire official said, "Demand contracted due to uncertainty in trade policies, but we minimized the impact on results by diversifying distribution by region and expanding sales of high-inch products," adding, "We also improved costs to recoup profitability."
This year, Nexen Tire plans to respond preemptively to uncertainty in the trade environment while focusing on strengthening sales capabilities and qualitative growth, based on the growth foundation built in development and production.
To that end, Nexen Tire decided to strengthen both brand exposure and partnerships with customers. It plans to enhance brand value based on premium original equipment (OE) tire performance and, through that, bolster capabilities in replacement (RE) tire sales.
It will also pursue qualitative growth by improving the product mix across products and distribution. By integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual technologies into product development, the company will drive product competitiveness innovation and supply new products that meet regional demand in a timely manner.