Hankook Tire’s futuristic concept tires awarded at IDEA 2017

• - With Flexup and Shiftrac, Hankook Tire receives Bronze and Finalist awards respectively, at the International Design Excellence Award 2017
• - This year’s win once again demonstrates Hankook Tire’s innovative design philosophy based on cutting-edge technology, realizing the future of driving

June 7, 2017 (Seoul, Korea) – Hankook Tire, the premium global tire brand with technology leadership, has been awarded ‘Bronze’ and ‘Finalist’ for their innovative futuristic concept tires at the International Design Excellence Awards 2017.

The International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) is a premier international design competition sponsored annually by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and judged by top design experts across the globe. It is known as one of the world’s top three most prestigious awards alongside the iF Design Award and the Red Dot Award. This year’s five judging criteria were design innovativeness, user experience, user benefits, social responsibility and aesthetic impression.

Hankook Tire’s Flexup received the Bronze award at IDEA 2017, reflecting an innovative design that can lead the future of driving and present an innovative brand image. Shiftrac received the Finalist award, successfully proving Hankook Tire’s future-oriented design philosophy and innovative technology as a top-tier, premium global company with design excellence.

Flexup is a one-person vehicle that can access stairs, speed bumps, etc. in cities with narrow roads, through a principle of driving treads that expand or contract, reaching the speed of 35 km/h through the city environment. Shiftrac is a Hyper Agility based tire concept, designed to perform smooth and agile driving within a mega city, through block shifting or skating principle pushing outwards, allowing strong cornering and fast lane change.

Through Hankook Tire’s Design Innovation 2016 - Hankook Tire’s exclusive sponsor program collaborating with the world’s renowned design universities’ students - the company collaborated with the University of Cincinnati to design and produce both Flexup and Shiftrac. The two models have been created to ride through the future mega cities with smart mobility.

Prior to this year’s achievements, Hankook Tire has been attaining a series of splendid results through its innovation design project. The company received the IDEA 2015 award, the Luminary award at the Red Dot Award and the iF Gold Award 2016 thanks to the ever-innovative Boostrac, Alpike and Hyblade, based on the collaboration with Pforzheim University in Germany.

‘Receiving these prestigious awards from the world’s top three design competitions testifies Hankook Tire’s global recognition for innovative design philosophy capabilities for future driving,” said Mr. Seung Hwa Suh, Vice Chairman and CEO of Hankook Tire. ‘As a global premium top-tier tire company with cutting-edge technology and design excellence, Hankook Tire will continue with its extensive design innovation for a pleasant future driving experience.”