▶ A pair of Kumho tires were honored by the prestigious iF Design Award


 Kumho Tire (CEO: Lee Han-seob) announced on February 15, 2017 that it has received the iF Design Award 2017 in the transport device discipline..

 Credited as being the Oscars of the design world, the award is organized by the International Forum Design of Germany. The 64-year-old award, along with the Red Dot Design Award and IDEA Design Award, is recognized as one of the world’s top three design awards. Winners are selected through a comprehensive screening process that looks at innovativeness, environment friendliness, quality, functionality and convenience as well as design.

 Two Kumho products received the prestigious award this year – the ‘ECSTA PS71’, a high performance tire for sports sedans and the ‘Smasher’, a futuristic concept tire that has adopted innovative technologies.

 Optimized for high-end sports sedans, the ECSTA PS71 boasts excellent handling and stability during fast driving. The tire’s reinforced block stiffness and maximized wet traction provide great handling responsiveness while the rib type center block design (with grooves running toward the circumference of the tire) improved the stability in high-speed driving. The sidewall icons that resemble a flag present an image of a high-performance racing tire.

 A future-oriented concept tire, the Smasher is optimized for driving in extreme road conditions with features such as suckers and grinder treads. The suckers of the tire enable the vehicle to climb steep slopes by creating a vacuum state when the tire grabs the ground while the titanium grinder and gear in the tread block allow for safe driving in any road conditions including rough roads by crushing uneven portions of the road that may damage the tire. The Smasher’s excellence in design was already recognized when it received the IDEA Award in 2016. In addition, it was mounted on the Ssangyong’s Tivoli at the IAA Motor Show 2015.

 “We have been consistently recognized for our innovation and design excellence by receiving the world’s top four design awards (the iF Design Award and the Red Dot Award of Germany, the IDEA Award of the United States and the Good Design of Japan) last year and winning the iF Design Award this year,” said Chung Taek-gyun, head of Kumho Tire’s R&D Division, “We will continue to focus our research capabilities on creating designs that would set our products apart from those of our competitors.”