Press Release

  • Car / SUV

New Hankook Kinergy 4S all-season tyre: 365 days of balanced performance for Europe’s roads

With the Kinergy 4S, tyre maker Hankook offers an all-weather specialist developed for European road conditions. Representing the fourth generation of all-season tyres from Hankook, the Kinergy 4S is geared toward continuing to offer drivers in Europe an alternative that features balanced performance and safety through all seasons, including climate change and future legal requirements. The tyre’s asymmetrical tread combines summer properties related to performance and safety on its block-tread outer side and tested suitability for winter conditions on the inner side, which features 3D sipes. The Kinergy 4S is offered in many popular sizes from 14 to 18 inches and is available as original equipment on the Audi Models TT, A1 and A4.
New Hankook Kinergy 4S all-season tyre: 365 days of balanced performance for Europe’s roads

Neu-Isenburg, Germany, 24 May 2017 – Premium With the Kinergy 4S (4S - Four Seasons) all-season tyre, premium maker Hankook is continuing to gear its activities toward quality-conscious, ecology-minded drivers who prefer not to change their tyres every six months, but do not want to – or have to – go without balanced performance and safety. The Kinergy 4S is distinguished by its especially harmonious performance features across all seasons. This makes the tyre an attractive alternative when it comes to ensuring legally compliant year-round mobility as weather conditions in Europe become increasingly changeable. The tyre can be used all year round even in countries with seasonal winter tyre requirements, as it bears the M+S and snowflake symbols (which will be required for winter tyres in Europe, as elsewhere, starting in 2018).

A true all-weather specialist, the Kinergy 4S combines the advantages of a summer tyre – short braking distances and good driving characteristics on both wet and dry surfaces at higher temperatures – with the benefits of a winter tyre, especially in the areas of traction and braking performance under cold conditions or with moderate snowfall. With their asymmetrical tread configuration, the current generation of Hankook all-season tyres adopts major design elements from its successful predecessor type, but the tyres have been fully redesigned, as the name also indicates.

The “summer shoulder” of the Kinergy 4S has been given a larger block structure in combination with stepped tie bars between the blocks, aligning it in particular to the more stringent requirements that apply when driving in dry conditions at higher temperatures. Its five-rib tread design also offers excellent stability. Special summer sipes on the outer tread blocks deliver better steering precision even when driving briskly on a dry surface. At the same time, the extra-wide belt package and highly dispersed silica tread compound for maximum bonding of silica and rubber make the tyre especially durable and reduce wear, extending the tyre’s lifespan and boosting cost-effectiveness. In combination with four main grooves of which the outer one comes in slanted design, this ensures optimum drainage, shedding water (or even slush) from the tread with high efficiency and effectively guarding against hydro- or slush planning.

The tyre’s inner tread has a winter design, with a higher number of sipes and blocks providing secure braking abilities in fall or winter weather conditions. An optimised tread surface with V-shaped crosswise grooves also enables controlled handling on snowy roads. Winter tread wear indicators incorporated into the tread grooves at regular intervals also make it quick and easy for drivers to check whether the tread meets the minimum depth requirements for winter tyres.

Hankook is one of the first manufacturers to have recognised the potential of all-season tyres for the European market, and has been deliberately advancing its development efforts in this segment since the 1990s. The model that preceded the Kinergy 4S, the highly successful Optimo 4S was already granted the coveted German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) Blue Angel for environmentally friendly driving back in 2008 in recognition of its excellent safety and performance features combined with outstanding fuel efficiency.

“In developing our all-season tyre, we focused on achieving a further improved combination of crucial winter and summer features in a single tyre in order to offer drivers a high-quality alternative to regular summer and winter tyre changes. With its balanced design, the Hankook Kinergy 4S can be a real alternative when it comes to staying mobile all year round – safely, legally, and without a lot of fuss. This is especially true in areas that tend to get less snow and have a more moderate climate, but also for example in urban settings,” explains Gangseung (“Tony”) Lee, Hankook’s Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Europe.

The Hankook Kinergy 4S line-up includes 45 sizes ranging from 14 to 18 inches in series 70 to 40 and tread widths from 135 to 255 in T, H, V and W ratings and in some cases also as extra load.

From the second half of 2017 the line-up will be expanded to 13-18 inches in series 80 to 40 and tread widths from 135-255mm.

Hankook Tire manufactures globally innovative, award-winning radial tyres of proven superior quality for passenger cars, light trucks, SUVs, RVs, trucks, and buses as well as motorsports (circuit racing/street circuits/rallies).

Aspiring to bring consumers the utmost excellence in product quality, technological excellence and driving satisfaction, Hankook Tire continuously invests in research and development maintaining five R&D centres and eight production facilities around the world. Bespoke tyre solutions for the European markets as well as European Original Equipment according to the requirements of leading premium car manufacturers, are developed in the company’s regional Technical Centre in Hanover/Germany. Production for the European region is taking place in the state-of-the-art manufacturing site in Rácalmás/Hungary which was inaugurated in June 2007 and is continuously being expanded.

Hankook Tire’s European headquarters are located in Neu-Isenburg near Frankfurt am Main in Germany. The manufacturer operates further branches in several European countries and sells its products through regional distributors in other local markets. Hankook Tire employs approximately 20,000 people worldwide and sells products in over 160 countries. The company has been the technical partner and exclusive tyre supplier of the Generation 3 for the FIA ABB Formula E World Championship since 2023. Internationally leading car manufacturers rely on tyres made by Hankook for their original equipment. Approximately 38 percent of the company's global sales are generated within the European region.

For more information please visit www.hankooktire-mediacenter.com or www.hankooktire.com

Hankook Tire Europe GmbH | Marketing Communications Europe | Siemensstr. 14, 63263 Neu-Isenburg | Germany

all press releases

Downloads

New Hankook Kinergy 4S all-season tyre: 365 days of balanced performance for Europe’s roads

Hankook Kinergy 4S all-season tyre

File size: 11 MB

New Hankook Kinergy 4S all-season tyre: 365 days of balanced performance for Europe’s roads

Hankook Kinergy 4S all-season tyre / structure

File size: 7 MB

New Hankook Kinergy 4S all-season tyre: 365 days of balanced performance for Europe’s roads

Hankook Kinergy 4S all-season tyre

File size: 4 MB

New Hankook Kinergy 4S all-season tyre: 365 days of balanced performance for Europe’s roads

Hankook Kinergy 4S all-season tyre

File size: 3 MB

Contacts

Sabine Riedel

PR Manager Marketing Communications

 +49 (0) 6102 8149-178

Sabine Riedel

PR Manager Marketing Communications

 +49 (0) 6102 8149-178

Lisa Schmid

PR Manager Marketing Communications

+49 (0) 6102 8149-172

Subscribe to the Hankook press releases