Kumho Tire U.S.A. Inc. reports its Ecsta V700 ultra-high performance tires are OE on BMW’s premium small car brand, the MINI JCW GP (MINI John Cooper Works GranPrix). The tires will be size 215/40R17.
The MINI JCW GP, first released at MINI United 2012 in Le Castelle, France, last May, is a special edition. It was designed based on the MINI racing car that won the Monte Carlo Rally three times in the 1960s. MINI JCP GP, commercially launched last December, is a second-generation model following the 2006 MINI GP Kit. Only 2,000 units have been produced worldwide.
Kumho Tires’ UHP line-up, categorized by its Ecsta title, offers responsive handling, high-speed stability, traction, low noise and ride comfort. The sporty Ecsta V700 developed for MINI JCP GP features an asymmetric tread design to provide optimal grip to amateur racers and speed aficionados. Kumho Tires has produced this product since last September and has completed its exclusive supply to BMW.
The BMW Group approached Kumho Tires at the very beginning of the car’s design and requested an original equipment tire be developed specifically for the MINI JCP GP. The supplied original equipment V700 was fine-tuned to fit the profile of the MINI JCP GP and won BMW’s final technology approval last June. This final version was developed focusing on stable, high-speed drive. The new MINI equipped with the Ecsta V700 tires is dubbed as the fastest production MINI in history. It completed an eight minute and 23 second run on Germany’s Nürburgring-Nordschleife course, which makes it about 19 seconds faster than its predecessor MINI GP.
“Since our contact with BMW was reached in 2011 for OE tires, we have developed products uniquely for MINI GP. We are very proud that the fastest MINI in history is equipped with Ecsta V700 tires,” says Il-taek Jung, executive director of Kumho Tires’ central research center. “The simple global reach of Kumho Ecsta V700 tires being produced in Gwangju, Korea, to be placed on the MINI JCW GP, which is produced in Europe, to be driven all over the world, is very exciting.”
In addition to BMW, Kumho Tires has been supplying its original equipment tires to other global carmakers such as Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Chrysler, GM and Ford.
For more information , visit www.KumhoTireUSA.com.
