Hankook Tire recognized for its innovative design at ‘iF Design Award 2019’

• Wins three awards in the categories of Professional Concept and Product
• Includes winners of the 2018 Design Innovation project, ‘Hexonic’, ‘HLS-23’, and the passenger car tire ‘Kinergy 4S 2’

February 14, 2019 (Seoul, Korea)  – Global leading premium tire maker Hankook Tire (President & CEO Hyun Bum Cho) has been awarded three ‘Winners’ in the categories of Professional Concept and Product at ‘iF Design Award 2019’.

The three winning works are concept tires ‘Hexonic’ and ‘HLS-23’, and a passenger car tire ‘Kinergy 4S 2’. Hexonic and HLS-23 are the results of Hankook Tire's research and development project 'Design Innovation', which proposes new visions and resolutions for future driving through tire. The tires were developed through collaborative research with students from the Royal College of Art (RCA).

Hexonic is a tire for fully-autonomous share cars (car sharing) that provides optimized driving solutions with smart sensors. The HLS-23 guarantees sustainable future logistics transport system through road-coordinate recognition and self-charging.

Kinergy 4S 2, the winner in the Product discipline, is an all season tire suitable for both summer and winter road conditions, equipped with improved drainage performance by applying a symmetrical V-shaped pattern. The detail elements inspired by a ski plate and a waterwheel induce drainage and improve the stability of adjustment. Two different summer and winter sipes were applied to satisfy both brake performance on snowy roads and handling performance on dry roads.

In 2009, Hankook Tire won the iF Design Award for the first time in the tire industry with its 'Optimo 4S'. With the addition of ‘Kinergy 4S 2’ to the winner this year following 'Kinergy 4S' in 2014, all of the previous models of Kinergy 4S have attained successive achievements, proving the excellence of Hankook Tire’s all season tire design.

Hankook Tire President & CEO Hyun Bum Cho said, “It’s an honor to be awarded the iF Design Award. We set out to create the most practical yet attractive tire design and are proud to be recognized by one of the world’s most prestigious design awards.” He added, “Hankook Tire will continue its commitment to building the most innovative high-performance products.”

The iF Design Award is presented by the International Forum Design, a German marketing consulting firm, and it is one of the top three most reputable international design awards along with the Reddot Design Award and the International Design Excellence Award (IDEA).

Each year, the iF Design Award entries are classified into seven disciplines of product, packaging, interior architecture, and communication, which are then categorized into 72 sub-categories. The entries are assessed based on ten evaluation criteria including innovation and elaboration, functionality, aesthetics, responsibility, and positioning. This year, around 6,400 entries from 50 countries were presented.