Around two years ago, Kumho Tire’s parent company the Kumho Asiana Group was heavily indebted, and sold its Kumho Buslines bus operation to a private equity company. Now the Korean conglomerate intends to repurchase the business, however concerns exist that the purchase price may end up being too high.
As Kumho Tire announced on 1 July, construction of its facility in the US state of Georgia is recommencing after a seven year delay. The tyre maker says the first tyres will be produced in the US$413 million Macon plant in early 2016, and 100 per cent of the tyres manufactured there will be supplied to OEM customers. Kumho adds that when the 4 million tyres a year capacity plant is complete, the company’s overseas manufacturing capacity will be larger than its capacity within Korea.
Kumho Tire has become the latest manufacturer to report original equipment homologation for the VW Polo. The tyre maker will supply its ecowing es01 KH27 in size 185/60R15 84H to Volkswagen-Navarra S.A for fitment on Polo models built at its plant in Pamplona, Spain.
Kumho Tire has announced that work will resume on its tyre plant in the US state of Georgia. In a Korean-language statement issued 30 June, the company said it had approved an investment by creditors, and anticipates that the US$413 facility will be complete in early 2016. This information was confirmed the following day by the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority.
A recent study by tyre manufacturer Kumho reveals some worrying statistics about UK car owners. About a third of motorists rely on their annual MOT to discover mechanical faults and to reassure them that their car is fit for use.
Kumho has confirmed that it is moving forward on its plans for a plant in the US, as Tire Review reports the Korean manufacturer has made a request for funding. Yonhap News Agency reported a Kumho official confirmed that a funding request has been made with banks for the Macon-Bibb, Georgia location. The official however hinted […]
Kumho Tire used this year’s Reifen show for a number of global premieres. The Korean tyre maker introduced the new all-season Kumho Solus HA31, which will enter the market in autumn and gradually replace the Solus Vier KH21. The new range will be available in a total of 35 sizes for 13 to 16-inch rim diameters and 80 to 50 profiles. Compared with the predecessor tyre, Kumho claims marked improvements in key performance areas, including wet handling and braking on snow. And while the Solus HA31 demonstrates Kumho’s interest in the growing all-season segment, the tyre maker also presented a new dedicated winter product at Reifen.
Kumho Tyre (UK) Ltd (KTUK) has established a new direct sales organisation following on from the recent announcement of a new three-year contract with Micheldever Tyre Services.
The new facility is located at Magna Park near Lutterworth in Leicestershire and provides an office base for the company’s expanded sales and marketing division as well as a warehouse stocked with the company’s full range of car, 4×4, van, truck and motorsport tyres. Sited close to the M1, M6 and M69 motorways, the Magna Park centre is perfectly placed to act as a national distribution hub.
This year’s annual tyre manufacturer rankings have brought with them a number of key changes at the top of the table. The growth of Far Eastern manufacturers and Chinese companies in particular has long been observed, but 2014 sees Singapore-based Giti Tire break into the top 10 and Taiwan-based Maxxis/Cheng Shin Rubber retains its ninth position. Hot on Giti’s heels, 11th place ZC Rubber (producer of the Westlake brand) gained one place from its position in last year’s table. Indeed this part of the table is extremely close and, such is the competition at this level, if ZC Rubber had achieved the same figures as last year (assuming no-one else had done any better and excluding currency effects) it could have been in 10th position.
Collaboration between Yokohama Rubber and Kumho Tire will become even closer following the signing of a cooperative research and development agreement and a license and technology exchange agreement on 31 May. The agreements are based on the master technological alliance agreement signed by the two companies on 15 February, an agreement that in turn followed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on 29 November 2013. Under this latest agreement, Yokohama Rubber and Kumho Tire will begin joint research and development on new tyre-related technologies, including ultra lightweight tyres and other environmentally friendly tyre technologies, as well as new concept tyres.
Frank Tore Larsen now leads the Norwegian Rally Championship by 28 points, following outright victory in his Kumho-shod Ford Fiesta R5 on the recent Rally Sorland – the first gravel event of the 2014 series. Kumho’s European motorsport manager Steve Thompson commented: “Frank has adapted magnificently to the Fiesta R5 and it’s great to see […]
Although it is the smallest of the three Korean tyre makers, Nexen has surprised some observers by being the only company in the country to increase both sales and operating profits in the first quarter of 2014. Of course the figures also show that both Kumho and especially Hankook remain significantly bigger than Nexen in terms of both measures, but the news caps a strong quarter for Nexen, which also announced the opening of a European factory and a number of awards and OE deals in the period.
Kumho Tire USA has extended its original equipment supply to Chrysler with the homologation of its Solus TA31 all-season tyre for the 2015 Chrysler 200 range. Beginning in March 2014, Kumho is supplying the TA31 in size 235/45R18 94V for select front wheel drive and all wheel drive models within the line-up. The Solus TA31 features a symmetric tread design, and Kumho says the tyre “meets consumer desire for excellent ride comfort while maintaining a very low noise threshold.”
Further to the Heads of Agreement signed last October, Kumho Tyre (UK) and Micheldever Tyre Services have announced their agreement to a new three-year contract with immediate effect. The contract confirms that MTS will continue to support and grow the existing Kumho Ecsta Performance Centre (EPC) network of independent retailers. In turn, Kumho will build and serve a complementary network of EPCs via its new warehouse facility in Lutterworth, Leicestershire. Both networks will operate on a common platform based on the long-standing approach.
Kumho Tire has been named a Red Dot Award winner for the third consecutive year. The German product design competition, which has now been held for 60 years, acknowledged three Kumho products, the Ecsta PS91, WinterCraft Wi61 winter tyre and the Wattrun VA31, which is exclusively fitted to Renault Samsung’s SM3 Z.E. This is the first time that a Korean tyre maker has been given a Red Dot Award three years in a row.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.