Boosting Tire Sales
Hankook Tire with its dedicated brand, ‘iON’
Kumho Tire, customized-development with Renault
Nexen Tire with universal ‘one-tire’ strategy
Hankook Tire & Technology, Kumho Tire, and Nexen Tire are extending their technologies accumulated in electric vehicles (EVs) to include hybrid vehicles, thus enhancing their competitiveness in products for electrified vehicles.
According to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA), the number of newly registered EVs in South Korea in the first half of this year reached 198,509, a sharp increase of 113.6% compared to the same period last year. The share of EVs among all new cars has risen to 23.3%. Meanwhile, hybrid vehicles accounted for 289,814 units, representing 34.1% of the total new car market.
The growing number of EVs on the roads is generating new demand in the tire market. EVs are equipped with large-capacity batteries, so they are heavier than their internal combustion engine counterparts due to their large-capacity batteries, and their motors deliver high torque instantaneously.
Hybrid vehicles are also heavier than standard internal combustion models due to the added battery and motor. Tires for these vehicles must handle the initial driving force of electric motors while simultaneously ensuring fuel efficiency, ride comfort and quietness.
Hankook Tire is targeting the market with iON, its brand dedicated to EVs. The iON line incorporates specialized technologies designed to address the unique characteristics of EVs, such as heavy loads, high torque, tir3e noise, and rapid tread wear. The company is now expanding the technology and supply experience gained from providing original equipment tires for global EVs, including the Porsche Taycan, BMW i4, i5, and iX, and Qudi Q4 e-tron, to hybrid vehicles.
Kumho Tire is pursuing a strategy to extend the high-load, low-noise technologies secured through Enovv, which was originally developed for its dedicated EV brand, to its general product lines. The specialized high-load design applied in Enovv can withstand greater vehicle weight while maintaining the same air pressure.
Kumho Tire supplies 20-inch tires for Renault Korea’s hybrid models, the Grand Koleos and the Filante.
Nexen Tire is strengthening its ‘one-tire’ strategy, which does not distinguish between EVs and internal combustion engine vehicles. This strategy applies performance characteristics required by EVs, such as high load capacity, high torque, and low noise, to general vehicles as standard features and awards the ‘EV Route’ mark to those that satisfy specific criteria.
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