Park Sam-koo says he won’t acquire a controlling stake in Kumho Tire from creditors unless they provide a definitive answer on specific conditions of sale. In a statement, Kumho Asiana has given the Korea Development Bank until 17 April to do this, otherwise it will not exercise its right of first refusal.
Kumho’s 4×4 tyre range was recently enhanced further enhanced by the addition of the Crugen HP91 and Crugen KL33 SUV offerings. Add in the cross-functional Road Venture patterned MT51 and established KL71 and between them they cover everything from such top end SUVs as the Range Rover and BMW X5 to the ever-popular Land Rover Defender.
The list of tyre makers intending to implement price increases in the coming time continues to grow. Two further manufacturers have announced price rises in the North American market: On 1 April, Kumho Tire USA will raise the prices for its car, light commercial and truck tyres by up to eight per cent. Toyo Tires USA is looking to lift prices for its car, light commercial and truck tyres by seven per cent.
The new Kumho Ecsta PS91 is now available in the UK and “aimed squarely at supercars and such mouth-wateringly quick passenger saloons.”
Last year Kumho products were honoured with the world’s top three design accolades – the Red Dot Award (Germany), iF International Forum Design (Germany), and International Design Excellence Awards (United States). Add further laurels from Good Design (Japan), Good Design (Korea) and Green Good Design (United States), and it was a bumper 12 months.
Kumho Tire’s sponsorship of German football club FC Schalke 04 has been extended until 30 June 2018. The tyre maker and Bundesliga protagonist first announced their collaboration at the beginning of 2015, and since then Kumho has been represented on LED signage at the club’s home stadium, Veltins Arena, and utilised other advertising options both in the stadium and in team-related publications. These advertising opportunities continue under the extended deal.
Kumho Tyre Australia will continue as the naming rights partner and official control tyre supplier of the Australian V8 Touring Car Series for a further three years, through to the end of the 2019 season. Kumho and V8 Touring Car organisers will also work closely to finalise an 18-inch tyre specification for the series, with a view to introducing the 18-inch wheels currently used in Supercar and Development Series competition into the category in 2019. The series will run on the current 17-inch rim until the end of the 2018 season.
Reuters reports that ChemChina did not bid for Kumho Tire, citing a ChemChina executive. told Reuters, denying South Korean media. Roughly 10 parties are said to have expressed an interest in buying a controlling stake in Kumho, which is the world’s 12th-biggest tyre manufacturer. Analysts suggest the deal could be worth around 1 trillion won ($870.02 million).
An Autocross Championship class has been won for the second consecutive year on Kumho rubber, after Frenchman Florent Tafani brought his Peters Suzuki home ahead of 38 fellow competitors at his home circuit of Saint-Igny-De-Vers. The victory clinched the Buggy 1600cc class of the 2016 FIA Autocross Championship, completing three victories and eight podiums in the nine-round series. Tafani, who finished a frustrated runner-up in the same category last season, stuck with the soft compound K33 Kumho R800 tyres throughout the final weekend, re-cutting them when rain began to affect the mix of rough and muddy terrain.
Kumho’s continued participation in national rally championships has been rewarded with another success, as Bob Fowden and Paul Wakely’s Subaru Impreza WRC clinched the 2016 JD Tyres Welsh National Tarmacadam Rally Championship with one round to spare. The pairing won the Peter Lloyd Stages event on 23 October at the Pembrey Motorsports Centre, and was fastest over all five stages of the rally, which was held in sunny but windy conditions.
Solus HA31 is Kumho Tire’s latest all-season tyre, and it has now all but replaced the Solus Vier KH21 in the UK market; though the older pattern is currently still available in some sizes. According to the tyre maker, the HA31 is “the ideal choice for drivers of all sizes of passenger car seeking optimum performance and reliability in all weathers.”
Kumho’s latest all-season tyre, the Solus HA31, has been accorded a Japanese Good Design Award. So too has the Kumho Eco Sense SE11 – a pattern specifically designed for environmentally friendly and electric vehicles but which, unlike the HA31, isn’t currently available in the UK market.
Kumho has enhanced its comprehensive 4×4 tyre range with the addition of the Crugen HP91, a high performance tyre for an SUV segment that has never been so important. Kumho has a broad range of products, though it adds that the majority of requirements are now covered by the latest on-road offering and the cross-functional […]
Volumes up, expanded team and new products in place It is now 18 months since Kumho returned to the UK truck tyre market so with truck tyre volumes up, an expanded team in place plus new products in the warehouse, the future looks bright. Indeed, according to the company, the dealers appointed so far are […]
The Korea Tire Manufacturers Association (KTMA) reports that the total value of tyres imported into Korea reached US$511.48 million (561.6 billion won) in 2015, up 63.8 per cent from $312.27 million in 2010. Tyre imports in the first half of 2016 (January to June) also increased, growing 6.2 per cent year-on-year to $250.84 million.
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