Hankook’s Enfren Wins 2008 Green Product Award

Hankook Tire has stated that its enfren tyre, which the company says is Korea’s first fuel-efficient, environment friendly tyre, received a Korea Green Management Excellence Award in the green product category. The award was presented by the Korea Management Association Registration & Assessments (KMAR). Attending the October 7 awards ceremony were South Korea’s vice minister of Environment Lee Byung-wook, Korea Management Association chairman Shin Young-chul and officials from Hankook and the other award-winning companies.

The KMAR conducted an online survey of 487 product and service brands in 101 product groups between June 27 and July 25, 2008. A total of 8,863 people in South Korea over the age of 20 took part in the survey. The frontrunners in each industry to emerge from the online survey were then subjected to an onsite inspection before the green product winners were finally selected. Hankook Tire’s enfren was, says the South Korean Manufacturer, the overwhelming leader in the online poll’s tyre category, which Hankook states attests to its position as the premier eco-friendly tyre in Korea. In particular, enfren received high marks for fuel efficiency. An ISO test in Europe, Hankook adds, showed that enfren lowers rolling resistance by 21 per cent.

The market for green products is expanding thanks to corporate and government efforts combined with the rise of ‘green’ consumers. This year, the green product award was given to 16 products. Aside from Hankook’s enfren, other winners included Samsung’s Zipel refrigerator, Honda Korea’s Civic Hybrid, and SK Energy’s ZIC XQ.

Hankook unveiled the enfren – the name derived from the words ‘environment friendly – on June 4, 2008. Developed over two and a half years with an investment of KRW11 billion (£5.1 million), the green tyre delivers higher fuel efficiency than regular tyres and a reduction in CO2 emissions. Enfren combines a number of technologies including a silica compound and structural design efficiencies to reduce the tyre’s rolling resistance by 21 per cent. A test on a Hyundai Sonata driven at 110km/h, a speed Hankook reports is regarded as the optimum speed for fuel efficiency, showed a 16 per cent drop in fuel consumption. In addition, CO2 emission was reduced by 4.1g for each kilometre travelled. Assuming a distance of 200,000km travelled over a ten-year period, the reduction in CO2 comes to 820kg, the equivalent to the amount absorbed by 146 trees in a year.

Lee Su-il, vice president of Marketing at Hankook Tire, said, “The fuel-efficient and environment friendly enfren represents a completion of the Kontrol Technology development cycle. enfren is intended to provide economic and environmental benefits to savvy consumers. Interest in environment friendly products is on the rise amid the surge in oil prices. We are very pleased and honoured to receive the green product award and to be acknowledged by consumers for our quality and environmental technology.

“Hankook Tire has also introduced the E-Cube series, the fuel-efficient and environment friendly truck and bus (TBR) tyres, and will continue with R&D to deliver green products to consumers,” Lee added. “We will set a new standard for eco-friendly tyres to spearhead the global tyre market.”