Work on phase two of Hankook Tire’s Rácalmás plant in Hungary is now complete. The tyre maker began its project to expand the plant in September 2009 and produced its first ‘phase two’ tyre in November 2010; now the Rácalmás factory is gearing up to produce 12 million tyres per annum and boasts a workforce of 1,900.
Yesterday (11 October) Michelin held an open day designed to encourage young people to learn more about manufacturing and potentially become apprentices. Michelin hosted the open day at its facility in Stoke-on-Trent as part of the government-backed “See Inside Manufacturing” scheme. Pupils and students from five Stoke-based schools and colleges visited the site in Campbell Road. A second open day is planned for Thursday 13 October.
Other events took place at the site time in automotive manufacturing centres across the country including several at sites across the West Midlands including Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin.The automotive sector is the first industry to support the nationwide project.
Last month’s IAA motor show in Germany featured numerous concept vehicles. Concept tyres also made an appearance, including Hankook’s new concept for electric and hybrid vehicles, the Kinergy Eco EV. Described by the manufacturer as a “further development” of its spring 2011-launched Kinergy Eco, the tyre shown at the IAA featured tweaked contours to reduce air drag and rolling resistance below that of its production counterpart. Hankook also notes that the Kinergy Eco EV’s 155/70 R 19 dimensions give it an “unusually large” diameter (700mm) compared to its width.
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Martin Tomczyk is the new DTM champion. In Sunday’s penultimate season round at Valencia, the Audi driver wrapped up the title by finishing third and prior to the finale at Hockenheim, he is now beyond reach with an advantage of 13 points. His main rival Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz) only scored two points by finishing seventh and now has to defend his current second position in the drivers’ standings at Hockenheim. With his third race win of the season, Mattias Ekström (Audi) came within two points from the Canadian.
Hankook Tire America has officially opened a new distribution centre in New Jersey, reports Tire Review. The new 400-000-square-foot warehouse is Hankook’s fifth in the US – the others are located in Tennessee, Texas, Illinois and California – and it will service customers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. The centre’s opening ceremony was attended by some 100 guests, including Hankook Tire America President Soo Il Lee, Frank Gambatese, the mayor of South Brunswick, and Hankook dealers and employees.
The fruits of Hankook’s DTM involvement can now be seen by all – the Korean tyre maker has released its first ultra high performance tyre to employ engineering drawn from DTM racing technology, the Ventus S1 evo². This flagship of Hankook’s UHP portfolio is said to benefit from expertise the company has gained as exclusive tyre supplier to the DTM – Hankook states a “multitude of technical innovations and design features” has enabled its engineers to arrive at the “best balance” between wet and dry performance. The Ventus S1 evo² has also been developed to meet next year’s EU-labelling requirements.
Hankook Tire Canada is supplying Canadian Tire – Canada’s largest retailer – with an exclusive Hankook-brand “all-weather” tyre. The Hankook Optimo 4S, which carries the mountain/snowflake symbol that the Rubber Association of Canada and its US counterpart, the RMA, assigns to approved winter tyres, will be available only at Canadian Tire locations across Canada.
Amongst the myriad of new releases on display at September’s IAA Motor Show in Germany, Hankook Tire presented its latest cold-weather products. The first of these was the i*cept RS, a replacement for the Icebear W440 intended for the moderate climates of Central and Western Europe. The Korean manufacturer says standout features on the i*cept RS include its “particularly reliable and stable handling characteristics on wet, snowy, slushy and also dry roads.”
TAFF Industry Advertising Campaign Award nominee Hankook has launched the second phase of its global television advertising campaign, running with the slogan, “Be One with It”. In Europe campaign will run across September and October having first launched in May 2011, on air in France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Russia and the UK.
Hankook Tire’s European factory has expanded its original equipment supply to the European market with the manufacture of the Optimo K415 to be fitted to the KIA Sportage, the car maker’s most popular family SUV, now taking place at the Hungarian site. Hankook says its investments in the factory show its effort “to meet the requirements of leading car makers aiming to increase the OE tyre production rate from the current 10 per cent to 20-25 per cent of the total production during the upcoming years.” Besides serving KIA, the Hungarian production site has supplied OE products to the European operations of Volkswagen since 2009 and Hyundai since 2008.
Michelin is to communicate a series of wet grip orientated messages with the next phase of its UK advertising campaign. This time the safety themed ads are designed to show the Michelin Man (Bibendum) protecting a motorist from treacherous wet driving conditions. Through a mix of TV ads, outdoor posters and on-line banners, the next phase of Michelin's global ad campaign will be rolled out across the UK. The first television ads will appear on Monday 12 September.
Hankook is approaching the final quarter of the 2011 DTM season, its first as exclusive tyre partner of the German touring car series, with events in Oschersleben, Valencia and at the famous Hockenheimring at Baden-Württemberg to conclude this year’s series. The manufacturer took the opportunity to set out its tyre development for the 2012 season during the UK leg at Brands Hatch, and the most striking feature of the new Ventus tyre will be its increased dimensions – a development that Hankook says will help bring down lap times next year.
The scramble to purchase a controlling stake in Indonesia’s second largest tyre manufacturer Multistrada Arah Sarana PT continues, as Reuters reports that the company’s shareholders have rejected a bid from Hankook for a controlling stake. Yokohama and private equity investment firm TPG Capital are reported to be the other bidders, though a Hankook spokesperson told Reuters that “none of the bids satisfied” Multistrada’s shareholders.
Hankook’s recent partnership with the Royal International Horse Show at Hickstead has revealed some worrying concerns over the tyre maintenance of horseboxes and trailers. According to the company, last year alone tyre failures accounted for approximately 30 per cent of all horsebox breakdowns at the roadside, many of which could probably have been avoided. In an effort to raise standards of tyre maintenance amongst the horse riding community, Hankook has published this advice:
Financial analysts have raised their estimates for Yokohama Rubber after reviewing their raw material assumptions. Their rationale is that, “while not as smoothly as peers, Yokohama Rubber is passing costs on to customers, and despite uncertainties (downturn in US/Europe), we expect it to report 30 per cent growth in adjusted full year…earnings on lower raw material prices and full-year contributions from price hikes.”
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