March 06, 2019 | correspondent
Hankook Tyre for Innovative Design at iF Design Award 2019
Hankook Tyre has been awarded three ‘Winners’ at the iF Design Award 2019 in the categories of Professional Concept and Product.
The three winning works are two of Hankook’s concept tyres, Hexonic and HLS-23, as well one of its passenger car tyres, the Kinergy 4S 2.
Hexonic and HLS-23 are the result of Hankook’s research and development project ‘Design Innovation’, which proposes new visions and resolutions for future driving through tyres.
Hexonic is a tyre for fully-autonomous share cars that provides optimised 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 tyre 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.
“It’s an honour to be awarded the iF Design Award. We set out to create the most practical yet attractive tyre design and are proud to be recognised by one of the world’s most prestigious design awards,” Hankook Tyre President & CEO Hyun Bum Cho said.
“Hankook Tyre will continue its commitment to building the most innovative high-performance products,” Hyun Bum Cho added.
In 2009, Hankook Tyre won the iF Design Award for the first time in the tyre industry with its Optimo 4S tyre. With the addition of Kinergy 4S 2 to the winner’s podium this year following Kinergy 4S in 2014, all of the previous models of Kinergy 4S have attained successive achievements.
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 categorised 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.
