Kumho broadens its OE horizons

Rapidly-expanding Korean tyre manufacturer Kumho has been a significant supplier to its native OEMs for many years, but is now making big strides towards obtaining business with the major automotive manufacturers in Europe and the US. To that end, appropriate offices have been established in the UK (Birmingham), Germany (Hamburg), America (Detroit) and China (Tianjin).

The European breakthrough came in 2001, when Kumho won the contract to supply 200,000 tyres a year to Volkswagen AG for the 2002 model year Polo. Though this was the company’s first ever European contract, it was not the first association with Volkswagen, to whom it already supplied tyres for the Mexican-built Beetle.

More recently, Kumho was selected by DaimlerChrysler AG to supply tyres for the second generation Mercedes-Benz A-Class model. The development programme for this contract was led by Kumho’s Birmingham-based European Technical Centre (KETC) and the main focus was ride refinement, whilst maintaining suitable levels of wet and dry performance as well as a low rolling resistance. The result was a new tread compound and carcass material for Kumho’s SOLUS KH15 tyre.

Kumho’s other Europe OE fitments currently include: Volkswagen Fox, Polo, Caddy; Mitsubishi Colt; Kia Picanto, Carens, Magentis, Sorento and Rio models; Hyundai Tucson, Coupe, Trajet, Matrix, Sante Fe, Sonata, Getz, Accent and Terracan models; Chevrolet Kalos, Captiva and Matiz models and SsangYong Rodius, Kyron and Rexton models.

The first contract with a US car manufacturer took effect in November of last year – the Chrysler Group having selected Kumho’s ECSTA KH11 tyre for global fitment to the Chrysler Sebring. Kumho has made major strides in the replacement tyre business since entering the US marketplace in 1975. Now it has sufficient plant capacity and an appropriate dealer network to increasingly challenge for major OE business.

CV fitments too

Earlier this year Kumho’s Road Venture KL78 became an OE fitment to the USA version of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van, which is sold under both the Dodge and Freightliner brand names in the US. The KL78 is part of Kumho’s range of Road Venture light truck tyres and features an improved tread design that enhances cut and chip resistance and nylon reinforcement for outstanding durability.

In the UK, Modec’s recently launched range of zero emission commercial vehicles is equipped with Kumho tyres as standard. Indeed, Kumho’s KRS03 tyres were even fitted to the prototypes, as the Korean tyre manufacturer was involved from the inception of this pioneering project.

The KRS03 features a wide, deep tread pattern for long life and optimum stability, while its newly-developed casing minimises stress points and heat build-up. S-shaped sipes give enhanced wet grip and stone-ejectors improve casing durability.

The future

Further announcements of OE contracts are expected in the very near future. Meanwhile, Kumho’s technical centres are busy developing tyres for an ever-increasing number of multinational manufacturers for a whole range of marketplaces, for example China.

For further details on Kumho tyres refer to kumhotyre.co.uk