Hankuk Carbon, which self-describes as "a pioneer and leader in the Korean composite material manufacturing industry", has opened its first European office at UK Enterprise Zone MIRA Technology Park in the English Midlands.

The company said the move marks its commitment to strengthen ties with automotive OEMs across Europe, as well as further develop links to its sports, leisure and industrial markets.

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MIRA Technology Park is already home to the likes of Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin and Bentley – the site was long the UK motor industry's go-to test site before competition from Millbrook and European sites.

"The location of new facility will allow Hankuk Carbon to seek out strategic partnerships as the firm looks to further improve the efficiency of its high-volume manufacturing model," the supplier said in a statement.

Hankuk Carbon said it has developed PCM (Prepreg Compression Moulding) materials which can be cured within one minute. This enables the manufacturing cycle time of composite components to be reduced "dramatically" and allows the company to deliver high-volume output to OEMs and Tier 1s.

It claims an established presence in the luxury yacht market which demands a lower yield of material per year. Ability to produce at high capacity has allowed it to diversify as the automotive market increases demand for lightweight composite materials such as carbon fibre.

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Byoungha Min, branch director, said: "As the electrification and automation of vehicles becomes more prevalent, reducing the weight of a vehicle becomes progressively important. We've seen an increased demand for composite materials as a result and MIRA Technology Park's pioneering CAV and EV tenants will provide a key opportunity for collaboration."

Terry Spall, commercial director at MIRA, said: "Hankuk Carbon presents an opportunity for OEMs across Europe. The firm's ability to manufacture composite intermediate materials such as carbon or glass prepregs for the PCM process – which can be cured in such a short time frame – makes the high-volume production of vehicles with carbon fibre components very realistic, providing a huge array of benefits for vehicle manufacturers."

The park's automotive 'technology cluster' now houses 1,200 employees across 40 companies from 15 countries. Other tenants include Toyota, Bosch, Clearmotion, Haldex, Intrepid Control Systems and Bharat Forge.