Hankook Tire announces new Public Affairs, Marketing Communications roles

After 16 years, Felix Kinzer is stepping down as Hankook Tire’s Director Corporate Communications Europe and will take on a new role as Senior Director for Public Affairs. Filip Pawelka will succeed Kinzer, directing the newly created Marketing Communications department at Hankook Tire Europe.

Hankook Tire is implementing a new department structure to accommodate a strategic management decision to merge operational marketing activities with the areas of corporate, product, motorsport, and digital communications. As Director of the new department, Pawelka will take over the areas of corporate, product, and motorsport communications as well as digital communications from Felix Kinzer, who established and grew these over the previous 16 years for Hankook Tire in Europe.

Leveraging synergies

In his new position, Filip Pawelka intends to leverage synergies to provide more targeted support to sales and further refine the Hankook brand image. An experienced PR executive, Pawelka rejoined Hankook Tire Europe in March 2023, initially as Senior Marketing Manager Europe. He had previously worked at Hankook at its Neu-Isenburg site in Germany from 2004 to 2008. He started his career with the company as a marketing coordinator, before taking on the role of Head of E-Marketing.

Prior to his return to Hankook, he worked in management at the Brunswick Group and as National Sales Manager at vehicle manufacturer Polaris Industries from 2015 to 2019. His most recent position was as Business Development Manager Outdoor Sports at Cardo Systems.

Felix Kinzer, who set up the communications and media relations division at Hankook Tire’s European base and played a major part in shaping it, is switching to a strategic role as Senior Director and will grow the newly created Public Affairs division for the company in Europe. Kinzer joined Hankook in 2007, following stints at Bridgestone and Pirelli. Having laid the foundation stone for the PR department and overseen its growth, he implemented new communication measures and later integrated the digital segment with website and social media. In his new role, he will report directly to the senior leadership team.

Significant contribution

“I would like to expressly thank Felix Kinzer for his longstanding and successful commitment. He has made a significant contribution to demonstrably professionalising our brand profile in Europe. In the course of setting up our European production facility, he established high-level corporate communications in 2007 and later digital media work, which has since become firmly anchored in the department through the creation of professional organisational structures. I’m confident that he will contribute to the positive growth of Hankook with the same passion in his new role also,” says Sanghoon Lee, President and COO of Hankook Tire Europe.

“We also looking forward to continuing the team’s many years of good communication work at a new level with Filip Pawelka, who is already extremely well versed in the processes at Hankook,” Lee continues. “With in-depth PR and marketing knowledge as well as his sales experience, he perfectly covers all areas of communication up to sales and will provide new impetus for our brand image and successfully develop the team.”