Hankook Tire, the leading and one of the fastest growing tire manufacturers in the world, proudly announced today that its concept tire, eMembrane, which was produced in collaboration with the University of Cincinnati, was awarded the 2013 Red Dot Award in the concept design category.
Hankook Tire’s eMembrane represents a solid result of the company’s continued efforts and investment in developing forward-looking tire designs and concepts. With its eco-friendly and state-of-the-art dynamic features, eMembrane demonstrates an innovative new tire concept and applies distinguished performance features that reflect the future of driving.
The award-winning eMembrane, designed as a Smart-Hybrid concept, is a multi-use tire for both performance and regular city driving. The concept tire is primarily targeted at young, “Generation Y” drivers. This group of drivers is characterized as adventurous, unique and apt to enjoy leisure activities. One distinguishing feature of eMembrane is its capability to transform its tire profile through internal structure changes in accordance with differing driving conditions. As such, eMembrane can be ‘eco-friendly’ while also offering dynamic driving performance.
The eMembrane’s tread design also adds to its innovativeness. For instance, when driving at high speeds, the tire’s tread center extends to generate maximum ground friction through a wider ground contact area, which in turn maximizes the grip power needed to execute dynamic cornering and performance. When driving at low speeds, the tread is designed to produce minimal road contact area and ground friction, whereby fuel efficiency is enhanced by reducing the tire’s rolling resistance. Furthermore, in order to make it easier to signal the changes in eMembrane’s driving modes, an LED system is equipped in the tire’s sidewall with an operation alarm.
“Such an important award from the internationally recognized Red Dot Awards is a clear manifestation of Hankook Tire’s ceaseless efforts to stay at the forefront in developing future-oriented tire concepts and designs,” said Mr. Seung Hwa Suh, Vice Chairman & CEO of Hankook Tire. Mr. Suh added, “Honoured and encouraged, Hankook Tire will continue to invest in building on our innovative tire concept and design competencies, by which we will strengthen our contribution to the advancement in the driving experiences of our customers around the world.”
Coupled with the concept tire’s other recent acknowledgement, the 2013 iF Concept Design Award, received in May, the recognition of the 2013 Red Dot Design Award is a major achievement for eMembrane. The double award-winning eMembrane demonstrates the company’s innovative design competencies.
Photo: Shaun Keenan
