Following a name change approved on 29 December 2020, Hankook Technology Group – the holding company of Hankook Tire & Technology – is now known as Hankook & Company. By retitling this entity, Hankook says it aims to leverage its affiliates’ brand awareness and create synergies.
Hankook Tire has released a video that explains its work on pre-emptive road risk detection technology in collaboration with data and technology company SK Planet. The result of this joint effort is the Road Hazard Prediction & Detection Solution.
Hankook Tire will supply its Hankook Kinergy Eco² to Fiat Automobiles as an original equipment tyre for the Fiat 500 and Fiat Panda. Both models will wear the Hankook tyre in size 175/65R14T.
South Korea’s Ministry of Science and Information & Communications Technology has given Hankook Tire and its Hankook Technodome R&D centre its ‘Certification of Exemplary Laboratories in Safety Management’, a distinction given to laboratories that have passed an expert assessment by leading professionals. Hankook comments that this is the first time a tyre company has received this certification in Korea.
Hankook Tire says its new Ventus S1 Evo Z gives us a foretaste of the generation of ultra-ultra-high-performance tyres it will offer in future. We’ve gained a first glimpse of Hankook’s new UUHP rubber on the Mini John Cooper Works GP, where it sees duty as the exclusive original equipment tyre. The fastest roadgoing Mini ever to see light of day wears the Hankook Ventus S1 Evo Z in size 225/35R18 87Y XL.
The Chevrolet Silverado is the USA’s second-best-selling vehicle and its sibling the GMC Sierra can also be found amongst the ten top sellers; these models’ combined sales in the first six months of 2020 approached 600,000 units. Hankook Tire’s latest original equipment approval thus has the potential to give the brand considerable exposure. Hankook Dynapro MT2 tyres will be standard equipment on the 2021 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra Heavy Duty.
As reported earlier this month, Hankook Tire has released its latest winter products for motorists and Western and Central Europe. And the new tyre line is off to a promising start, with Auto Bild awarding the new tyre its top ‘exemplary’ rating in its winter 2020 comparative evaluation.
Hankook Tire has reported consolidated global sales of KRW 1.4358 trillion (£945.0 million) for the first quarter of 2020, around 12.6 per cent less than in the opening quarter of last year. Operating profit decreased 24.8 per cent year-on-year to KRW 105.9 billion (£69.7 million).
Cho Hyun-bum, chief executive of tyre maker Hankook Tire & Technology, has received a suspended prison sentence after being indicted on charges of accepting bribes and embezzling corporate funds.
In addition to the recently-announced application of artificial intelligence and digital sensor technology to automate the inspection of newly-manufactured tyres, Hankook Tire aims to improve the production flow in its factories via a new monitoring system that utilises artificial intelligence and IoT technology. It calls this Hankook Condition Monitoring System Plus, or CMS+ for short.
Hankook Tire signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on 16 April with Korean fleet management service provider UB1st. The cooperative relationship between the two companies focuses on creating a new type of fleet management service by combining Hankook Tire’s offline service capabilities with vehicle data collected by UB1st’s platforms, such as UbiKhan.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and digital sensor technology is being employed to automate the inspection of freshly-manufactured tyres at Hankook Tire & Technology’s production facilities. Hankook says its automatic inspection system will improve efficiency and consistency at the final stage of product testing.
A trio of Hankook tyres are recipients of the Red Dot Award 2020 for product design. Hankook Tire shares that the Red Dot Award judges singled out the Hankook i*pike RS2, Hankook Dynapro AT2, and Hankook Dynapro MT2 for this honour.
Hankook Tire will support its product development with a new in-house creative database that offers “unique industry insights and new concepts.” The tyre maker has set up this ‘CMF LAB’ database together with Model Solution, its prototype and manufacturing solutions company. Model Solution will use the CMF LAB as a strategic springboard for new business expansion.
Hankook Tire concedes that its response to last year’s “extremely challenging” business environment and the rapidly-changing trends influencing the tyre industry was “not fully sufficient” to combat downward pressure upon its business. Hyun Shick Cho, vice chairman and chief executive officer of Hankook Technology Group, has addressed this issue in a letter to shareholders, discussing means of responding preemptively to these changing trends.
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