Hankook Tire has extended its original equipment supply activities, this time in North America with tyres for the new 2020 Ford Explorer. America’s best-selling SUV will wear Hankook Kinergy GT all-season tyres in size 255/65R18.
It’s not just the car that’s grown. This August Mini officially began celebrating the iconic marque’s 60th anniversary. We at Tyres & Accessories wanted to join in with the celebrations by sharing a couple of interesting points about how the Mini’s tyres have evolved over the last 60 years.
In reporting its financial results for the second quarter and first half of 2019, Hankook Tire notes that the six months to 30 June were punctuated by uncertainty within the global tyre market. Challenges faced by many tyre makers include declining vehicle sales, anti-dumping duties and uncertainty caused by US-China trade tensions. Hankook specifically battled high fixed costs during a low demand cycle, a relatively high dependency on China for both production and sales, and issues with stabilisation at its 2017-opened plant in the USA.
The Motor Ombudsman won the 2019 TyreSafe Online and Social Media award. The tyre safety charity’s annual prize giving ceremony, which was recently held at Staffordshire’s St George’s Park, the home of the National Football Centre, acknowledges businesses and individuals, across eleven different categories, who have made a significant contribution to raising awareness about tyre safety-related issues during the past 12 mo
This year saw the 33rd Motor Transport Awards take place at the Grosvenor House Hotel situated on London’s Park Lane. Over 1,500 guests gathered to celebrate the achievements of the industry and recognise innovation, outstanding service, efficiency and quality. The Technical Excellence Award, sponsored by Hankook Tyre UK celebrates whoever is responsible for managing the specification, acquisition, repair and maintenance and disposal of an operator’s fleet. To win this award entrants have to demonstrate industry-leading levels of cost efficiency, reliability, availability, safety and first-time annual test pass rates. Demonstrating innovation is also essential, such as reducing fuel consumption, being more efficient or using technology creatively to solve specific technical fleet challenges.
Hankook Tyre UK Ltd is celebrating the commitment of four valued employees who have reached important 10- and 20-year milestones. All staff were recently invited to a special event to recognise their long-service achievements and share their memories. Almost 40 per cent of the UK workforce is now in receipt of a long service award.
Hankook will continue as the exclusive supplier of DTM for the next four years, having signed an early extension to its partnership contract with DTM marketer ITR. The tyre maker has been involved in one of the most popular international touring car series as official partner and exclusive tyre supplier since 2011. The new contract means Hankook will become the longest-standing tyre supplier in the history of the international racing series.
Toyota has chosen Hankook tyres as original equipment for the North American market 2020 Corolla. The new model, which went on sale in April, wears the Hankook Kinergy GT (pattern H436) in size 205/55R16 91H.
Hankook Tyre UK has announced the appointment of a successor to David Thorp, its UK sales manager who will retire on 30 June 2019. Paul Emery, who has a wealth of industry expertise to draw upon, will take over as sales manager of the UK truck and bus tyre segment. Thorp will retire after a long career in the tyre industry, including more than thirteen years’ service at Hankook.
Hankook Tire was named a GM supplier of the year by General Motors during its 27th annual Supplier of the Year awards ceremony, which was held in Detroit, USA on 15 May. This is the third time Hankook Tire has received the award.
Hankook Tire reports that two awards came its way at this year’s Honda Supplier Conference in the USA. The tyre maker was one of just four “double award” suppliers to receive Supplier of the Year awards for excellence in both Quality & Delivery as well as Value. In total, Honda honoured 85 North American OEM parts suppliers.
Hankook tyres will be fitted to more than 1,100 city buses in Barcelona under a new supply agreement with the city’s main public transit operator, Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB). Tyres will be supplied and fitted by Grupo Soledad, Hankook Tire’s distributor in Spain.
18-inch-plus tyres accounted for 53.9 per cent of total Hankook Tire car tyre sales in the first quarter of 2019, a 3.3 per cent increase versus the same period last year, showing Hankook’s strengthening position in premium segments. The manufacturer reported global sales of 1.64 trillion Korean won (1.28 billion euros), up around 2 per cent on Q1 2018, and operating profit of 140.1 billion won (109.6 million euros), which was 44.1 billion won (30.7 million euros less than in Q1 2018.
For the past eight years, Hankook Tire has acted as exclusive tyre partner for the DTM touring car series. This year, the tyre maker is complementing its DTM commitment with involvement in four further championships – the Formula Renault Eurocup, Belcar Series, Mini Challenge Italia and the new, all-female W Series.
Hankook Tyre UK has appointed Rob Burkhill to the position of regional sales manager for its Northern region. Burkhill brings nearly 20 years of experience into his new role of developing sales of Hankook passenger car and light truck tyres in the UK.
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