Hankook Tire's iON brand wins Red Dot Design Award

South Korean tire maker Hankook Tire & Technology said on Thursday that its electric vehicle (EV) exclusive tire brand, "iON," has secured four "Winner" awards in the product design category at the "Red Dot Design Award 2023" in Germany.

The award-winning products include the high-performance tire "iON evo," the all-season tire "iON evo AS," the winter tire "iON i*cept," and the official racing tire "iON for the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship" electric car racing series.

It is rare for an entire specific brand lineup of a tire manufacturer to receive such accolades at a global design competition. Hankook Tire highlighted the significance of this achievement, emphasizing that the iON brand has established itself as an EV-exclusive tire brand.

Launched in the European replacement (RE) tire market in May last year, iON has been sold in major EV-advanced countries, including Korea and the US. The tires were developed targeting high-performance premium electric vehicles, offering advantages in low noise, rolling resistance, and mileage.

Since 2013, Hankook Tire has received a total of 15 awards at the Red Dot Design Award. In the 2015 event, the company achieved the first-ever "Luminary" award for a Korean enterprise. Additionally, Hankook Tire has consistently won awards since 2012 at the "iF Design Award" in Germany and the "IDEA" in the US, both of which are ranked among the top-three design awards globally.

Write to Sung-soo Bae at baebae@hankyung.com