Nexen Tire and Design Council Busan join hands for futuristic models

Nexen Tire said on Thursday that it has developed three types of future concept tires, including "BTR," "Mearth," and "Nocturne," in collaboration with nine students specializing in product design affiliated with the Design Council Busan's Korea Design Membership Plus (KDM+).

The council's KDM+ is a design membership program that selects excellent students with potential and nurtures them into talents suitable for industrial work through various practical design training courses.

First, BTR (Born to Race) is a tire for racing cars that can adjust the tire camber (the tilt between the tire and the ground) through a spherical internal structure.

The camber angle can be adjusted freely according to the driving course, while the individually structured tread pattern maintains a stable contact surface.

Meanwhile, Mearth (Mars+Earth) is a future terraforming tire designed for use on Mars. It provides a mode that improves drivability by widening the tread area with special materials and a mode that can clear the arid land of Mars with protruding sidewalls.

The airless tire Nocturne with active noise canceling technology not only offsets tire noise effectively during high-speed driving, but also operates when the vehicle is in a stationary mode, such as when parked or camping, and was developed to allow passengers to enjoy the best low-noise environment in and outside the vehicle.

Nexen Tire plans to produce mock-ups of the newly developed tires and participate in various international design awards with the models.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com