Hankook Achieves a Record Mark in 2011 Gaining 6.48 Trillion Korean Won
Hankook annual income increased by 20.9 per cent in comparison to that of the last year and made as much as 6.48 trillion Korean won with the profit from their main activities equaling to 566.3 billion. It became possible thanks to a high level of consumer demand for UHP tires with a lot of automotive manufacturers using Hankook products as Original Equipment for their vehicles.
In spite of the global crisis Hankook tire develops in a quick tempo on world’s main markets. For instance, their income in Europe and North America grew by 41 and 34 per cent respectively. In Asian and Pacific regions the profit increased by more than 20 per cent.
The key role in such success was played by a growing demand for ultra-high performance tires and Hankook’s response to this phenomenon, namely the company launched more premium-class tires previous year. The amount of UHP tire sold in North America became 59 per cent higher than that of 2010.
At the same time, Hankook constantly expands OE tire lineup with UHP tires making up to 92 per cent in this segment. It signifies for the brands popularity and the high quality of the company’s products.
Hankook Gets the Prestigious iF Design Award for Its Ventus S1 evo2 Tire
Hankook innovative tire, the Ventus S1 evo2, has been lately granted the prestigious iF Design award. The reason for such high honor appeared an excellent blend of wet and dry traction the tire offers alongside with its fuel-efficient performance.
The iF Design Award was instituted in 1953. Now it is the most important one for industrial design with 4300 products from 48 countries having aspired for it this year.
The tires participating in the competition are strictly evaluated and graded. The awarders take into account several major factors that comprise tire work, namely its safety, the materials used for its development, fuel efficiency and the way it complies with modern technologies.
What helped the Hankook Ventus S1 evo2 win in such a high-level contest? It is several innovative decisions that brought the tire such success. Firstly, it is new groove design that allows for air turbulence in the contact patch area to reduce heat build-up. Secondly, a three-layer construction of tread block enhances grip and stabilizes contact patch shape as the tire wears.
And, thirdly, high-stirol polymer in its rubber compound considerably reduces the tire’s rolling resistance, which helps lower your car’s fuel consumption as well as minimize CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
Hankook has been already given this award for its eco-friendly Hankook enfren and Hankook Optimo 4S tires. It happened in 2009.
Tire-Makers Claim Tire Abrasion Doesn’t Inflict Harm on Human Health
World-known tire-makers has carried out a series of tests to prove that micro-elements emerging from tire abrasion is safe for human health as well as for environment in general. Neither inhaling these elements from air nor their quantity in soil and water is dangerous for their level lies below toxicity line.
The so-called Tire Industry Project (TIP) gathered Bridgestone, Continental, Cooper, Goodyear, Hankook, Kumho, Michelin, Pirelli, Sumitomo, and Toyo automotive manufacturers to work under the idea of healthy environment. Its aim is to reveal and eliminate potential harmful influence of the materials used in tire production. The project runs under the auspices of the WBCSD while the TIP participants are in charge of 70 per cent of the world tire industry.
After the elements disposed into soil and water were tested the researchers dealt with air toxicity to find out that there’s no harm in inhaling tire abrasive elements. The results have also shown that tire wear doesn’t inflict harm on the environment for the concentration of micro-elements in soil and water is too low to become dangerous for human health.
The tests were carried out in the Seine river basin in France, in the Jodo basin in Japan as well as in Chipsake gulf in the USA.
The TIP participants are also looking forward to the use of nanotechnologies in tire production. It can partly solve ecological problems alongside with bringing benefit to end consumers. For instance, innovative nanomaterials can enhance modern passenger and truck vehicles’ fuel efficiency and hence reduce the amount of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
Moreover, the TIP community actively promotes new schemes of worn tire utilization and their recycling and further use.
Hankook, Goodyear and Yokohama Become Winner of Tire Technology International Awards Ceremony
This year the Tire Technology International Awards ceremony took place in Koln (Germany). The main award was given to Hankook company who became Tire Manufacturer of the Year. Goodyear was the first in Tire Technology of the Year while Yokohama won the first prize for being Ecological Achievement of the Year.
Jury members were extremely impressed by the development of Hankook company over the latest twelve months, which would likely make it the fifth world’s largest tire manufacturer in a couple of years.
Jin-Wook Choi, the executive manager and the head of European Hankook department said that they are very glad to get such an award for it means the recognition of their philosophy of standing growth. He added that the previous year was a great success for the company, which became thanks to the hard work of their employees.
The second and the third prizes in this category were given to Apollo and Bridgestone companies.
Goodyear was awarded thanks to its high-performance UltraGrip Ice+ frictional winter tire highly praised by the jury. It was called an impressive tire designed to manage the most problematic roads in the world, the ice-covered roads of Scandinavia. Marс Junio, the general director of Goodyear Innovative center in Luxemburg – it is where the tire was worked out – said that they are proud of their tire’s performance and are glad to be the best among winter tire manufacturers.
Speaking about Yokohama company, jury members stressed that the company’s numerous ecological projects weren’t unnoticed while the most impressive one was the one dealing with bio diversity preservation. In the frames of that project Yokohama carried out a profound research on how its activities affect the environment and tried to reduce negative influence on it caused by the use of natural rubber and mineral resources.
