Hankook & targets European battery aftermarket with Hankook-branded lineup

Hankook & is stepping up its push into the European automotive aftermarket, leading with its Hankook-branded battery lineup. The company plans to expand its sales network across Europe by supplying products made at its manufacturing facilities in South Korea and the United States through its German subsidiary and local logistics infrastructure.

Hankook & Group announced Monday that it participated in Automechanika Frankfurt 2026, held in Germany from Tuesday through Saturday. Automechanika is Europe's largest trade fair for automotive parts and service, drawing roughly 150,000 visitors from around the world this year.

The group's ES Business Division and its thermal-management affiliate Hanon Systems attended the event together, jointly operating a Hankook-branded exhibition hall.

At the show, Hankook & showcased a range of lead-acid vehicle batteries — AGM (absorbent glass mat), EFB (enhanced flooded battery) and MF (maintenance-free) — focusing on high-performance products to win over European customers as rising in-vehicle electronics drive up power consumption.

Among the lineup, the AGM battery is a high-performance unit designed for vehicles equipped with start-stop functionality, which shuts off the engine at a standstill — such as at a red light — and restarts it when the driver pulls away. It is engineered to last up to four times longer than a standard MF battery and to withstand frequent charge-discharge cycles.

Growing power demands from advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and large in-vehicle displays are also fueling demand for high-performance auxiliary batteries. Hankook & plans to expand AGM sales in the European aftermarket in line with the broader trend toward vehicle electrification and increased electronic content.

The company has already built a local business foundation in Europe. After establishing a subsidiary in Frankfurt in 2022, it set up a logistics hub in Hamburg. Batteries sourced from production facilities in South Korea and the United States are distributed to European customers through that local sales and logistics network.

At the exhibition, local companies inquired not only about the products themselves but also about regional supply capabilities and logistics systems, the company said.

Hanon Systems, which participated alongside Hankook &, outlined its strategy to extend into the aftermarket the thermal-management technology it has developed supplying automakers. Having announced an aftermarket expansion plan last month, Hanon Systems used the Frankfurt event to present its specific business direction to European partners.

Since Hanon Systems joined the Hankook & Group, the two companies have been showcasing batteries and vehicle thermal-management products together, broadening the overlap between the group's automotive parts businesses.

"This exhibition was a meaningful opportunity to directly communicate the competitiveness of Hankook batteries and the group's mobility business capabilities to key European customers and partners," a Hankook & Group official said. "We will continue to expand our customer touchpoints in the European market and strengthen the global competitiveness of our mobility businesses, including batteries."