Hankook Tire and Vaculug partner up for Hankook’s retreading business in UK and Ireland

- Hankook’s Alphatread retread brand will be manufactured by Vaculug
- Five year contract ensures consistent supply and quality for Hankook’s customers
- Sustainable initiative to increase tire life and avoid unnecessary waste

Daventry, UK, May 26, 2022 – Global leading tire company Hankook Tire continues to focus on its significant retreading business for commercial vehicle tires by expanding its own retread brand “Hankook Alphatread”. Together with Vaculug, Hankook has signed a five-year agreement. Vaculug, one of Europe’s largest independent retread producers, will manufacture Hankook’s Alphatread retread brand in the UK. Vaculug will also work with Hankook product as a premium fitment for all its fleets.

“To offer our fleet and dealer partners a cost effective and ecological solution, Hankook continuously invests in its range and volumes of production of premium Alphatread hot-cured tires. Our new partnership with Vaculug will support our mission to offer attractive and sustainable products. This new agreement also ensures maximum value for our fleet customers,” says Guy Heywood, Vice President Marketing Truck and Bus tires, Hankook Tire Europe.

On behalf of Vaculug, Jorge Crespo, Managing Director, commented “We are very proud of our association with Hankook and look forward to growing this relationship to new heights. While this agreement is only for an initial period of five years, we as a family have had a relationship with Hankook that goes back over four decades. We look forward to building on that partnership where the next generation of both Vaculug and Hankook help the environment through more sustainable initiatives such as this one.”

The Hankook SmartLife Solutions concept demonstrates the advantages of a hot retread for fleet companies. All Hankook commercial vehicle tires are designed in such a way that they can be regrooved, while the high-quality carcass can be retreaded several times. These features allow fleet companies to be able to achieve significant economic benefits: 5-9 mm of additional base rubber under the tread delivers up to 25% more mileage after regrooving. Hankook Alphatread hot retreads can deliver up to 100% of the mileage achieved with a new tire and equivalent performance for around 60% of the cost. If the regrooving and retreading process is continued in line with the Hankook SmartLife Solutions concept, the service life of a new tire can be increased to 250%. As well as these financial benefits, there are also various benefits for the environment. One of them is the fact that around 70% of the raw materials used in new tires can be saved during retreading.