Kumho Tire 'Ecsta HS52' Wins Main Prize at Japan Good Design Award

[Asia Economy Reporter Yu Je-hoon] Kumho Tire announced on the 20th that its product 'Ecsta HS52' won the main prize (Winner) at Japan's 'Good Design Award 2021.'

The Good Design Award is Japan's most prestigious design competition and is globally recognized for its tradition and credibility. The evaluation criteria include the 'human perspective,' which assesses whether the design resonates with users and is attractive; the 'industrial perspective,' which considers contributions to creating new industries or businesses; the 'social perspective,' which examines whether the item contributes to social and cultural value creation and the realization of a sustainable society; and the 'time perspective,' which looks at whether the design incorporates past contexts and accumulated achievements and shows continuous improvement in response to changing times.

Kumho Tire designed the Ecsta HS52 so that drivers can enjoy both comfort and sporty performance simultaneously. It also applied an optimal pattern method to secure steering stability during cornering on wet roads and to deliver the best performance on dry roads.

Furthermore, by introducing high-tech technology, a strong and solid block design was utilized in the tread pattern (the part of the tire structure that directly contacts the road surface). This maintains consistent friction pressure when the tire contacts the road, reducing impact and noise and improving ride comfort.

This is a high-rigidity structure optimized mainly for mid-to-large sedans, ensuring a low-noise environment under various driving conditions and demonstrating comfort performance (driving stability). In addition, by using a high-performance silica compound as a tire component, the contact area with the road surface was expanded, and energy loss due to heat generation was reduced, improving driving performance on wet roads.

Jo Man-sik, Head of Research and Development at Kumho Tire, said, "This award-winning product is the first to show the second-generation identity and will play a leading role in driving Kumho Tire's brand value and recognition in the future." He added, "We will continue to collaborate across all departments to present products that satisfy customers in both design and performance."

Meanwhile, Kumho Tire has also received awards for tire products such as 'e-NIMF' and 'e-TOPs' (Germany iF Design Award), V730 (Germany RedDot Design Award), and Fin-Sread (USA IDEA), receiving recognition for design technology in all four major global design awards this year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.