Hankook Tire Co. Ltd.’s Hyblade concept tire received a gold award, the highest distinction, in the iF Design Award 2016 competition.
A total of four Hankook products were honored at the international design competition.
The Hyblade stood out from 5,295 products by 2,458 participants from 53 countries submitted for the competition and was chosen by a jury of 53 experts for one of 75 gold awards. The concept tire is designed to provide an optimal solution for heavy rain. It is equipped with waterwheel tread and side spokes that create driving and steering force in heavy rain. Hyblade won award in IDEA 2015 (International Design Excellence Award) as well.
Along with Hyblade, Hankook’s another concept tires, Boostrac and Alpike, are award-winners in the iF Design Award 2016, as well as in the Red Dot 2015 and IDEA 2015 competitions.
These three concept tires were developed under Hankook Tire’s ‘Design Innovation 2014’ initiatives in collaboration with University of Design, Engineering and Business in Pforzheim, Germany. Under the project, the concept tires were introduced as futuristic tire solutions for climate changes such as heavy rain, desertification, and heavy snow respectively showing Hankook’s pioneering vision for future tire.
With its hexagonal tread blocks, Boostrac provides intensified traction performance, especially on steep, rough conditions such as desert and mountain roads. Alpike’s circumferential expansion mode is designed to provide optimal suitable for heavy snow and enhanced traction on snowy and icy roads, according to Hankook.
In addition to the gold award for the Hyblade, Hankook received awards for four products in the iF Design Awards this year. The other winners were:
* i*cept evo2 ultra-high performance (UHP) tire for winter season (product discipline category); and
* Boostrac and Alpike concept tires (professional concept discipline category).
The company also won an award for “visual contents identity” in the communication discipline.
Seung-Hwa Suh, vice chairman and CEO of Hankook, says, “With recognition by world’s prestigious awards, Hankook Tire displays its profound prowess in both performance and design.This year Hankook Tire will continue to foster our performance and industry leadership.”
