Press Release

  • Car / SUV

Hankook Winter and All-Season Tyres Named Test Winner

Tyre maker Hankook was once again able to demonstrate the quality and performance of its products across numerous independent tests covering winter and all-season tyres. For example, the company’s ultra-high-performance Winter pattern i*cept evo 3 was named test winner among a dozen brand-name tyres in Auto Bild Sportscars, one of Europe’s leading automotive magazines for high-performance sports cars. The Hankook Kinergy 4S 2 X all-season tyre was also a convincing test winner in Auto Bild Allrad, Europe’s leading magazine for all wheel drive cars.
Hankook Winter and All-Season Tyres Named Test Winner

Neu-Isenburg, Germany, 27th October 2021 – Hankook tyres are a great choice for consumers all year round. This is confirmed by the annual results of independent tyre tests conducted by renowned magazines. In this year’s winter tyre test in Auto Bild Sportscars, the sports car branch of Europe’s largest automobile magazine Auto Bild, the premium tyre manufacturer was able win the test with its ultra-high performance winter tyre i*cept evo 3. Auto Bild Allrad, the 4x4 offshoot of Auto Bild, also chose a Hankook product as the test winner – the Kinergy 4S 2 X.

“These test victories, as well as other excellent independent test results, show that we as a premium manufacturer are able to provide consumers in a wide range of segments with respective high-performing products that can always be relied on, even in difficult weather conditions,” says Sanghoon Lee, President of Hankook Tire Europe.

As an all-weather SUV tyre, the Kinergy 4S 2 X is a true all-rounder, combining specific summer and winter tyre characteristics without causing temperature-related drops in performance. At the same time, it offers high reliability in wet, dry and snowy conditions. The editors of the German car magazine Auto Bild Allrad have named the Hankook Kinergy 4S 2 X as this year’s winner of their all-season tyre test: “It really does exist! The one tyre that keeps you safe in all weather conditions. The editorial team concluded that the test winner made by Hankook is “an exemplary compromise” (10/2021).

Hankook's ultra-high performance tread, the Winter i*cept evo 3, is specifically designed for vehicles ranging from upper mid-size cars to sports cars and luxury sedans, and is tailored to winter road conditions in Central and Western Europe. The directional design not only provides excellent and safe grip in wet and snowy conditions, but also helps to effectively reduce the risk of aquaplaning, among other things. Auto Bild Sportscars can also confirm this: “Excellent performance on snowy and wet roads, good margin of safety when aquaplaning, dynamic handling and short braking distances on snowy and wet roads” (11/2021). All this ensured test victory in the magazine’s winter tyre test this year.

“Short braking distances on dry roads, very good performance across all wet tests including the aquaplaning hazard test, the best subjective handling during a lap in wet conditions, and very good grip across all snow tests.” The magazine “tyre reviews” (27.09.2021) attested all this, putting the Hankook tread on the podium in its test as well.

The SUV version, the Winter i*cept evo 3 X, was also convincing in Auto Bild Allrad: Editors noted the “high performance potential in all weather conditions, short snow and wet braking distances” as well as “stable wet and dry handling” and “good performance at a fair price.” (11/2021). The Winter i*cept RS 2, Hankook’s tread for the small car to compact class category, which has already won numerous awards since its market launch, impressed testers at Auto Bild thanks to its good performance in snowy and wet conditions. They specifically referred to the tyre’s “very good aquaplaning properties” and “short wet braking distances.” (40/2021).

Test results for Hankook winter and all-season tyres 2021

Medium:

Tread:

Tested size:

Test result:

Edition:

Auto Bild Allrad

Auto Bild Sportscars

Kinergy 4S2 X

Winter i*cept evo 3

215/65R17 103V

VA: 225/45R18 V
HA: 245/40R18 V

“Exemplary” and test winner

“Exemplary” and test winner

10/2021

11/2021

 

tyre reviews

Auto Bild Allrad

Winter i*cept evo 3

Winter i*cept evo 3 X

225/40R18 V

235/55R18 V

Editor’s “Recommendation”

“Good”

27/09/2021

11/2021

Auto Bild

Auto Bild

Winter i*cept RS 2

Kinergy 4S2

205/55R16 H

225/50R17 V

“Good”

“Good”

 

40/2021

39/2021

 

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

Hankook Winter and All-Season Tyres Named Test Winner

File size: 2 MB

Hankook Winter and All-Season Tyres Named Test Winner

File size: 159 KB

Hankook Winter and All-Season Tyres Named Test Winner

File size: 151 KB

Hankook Winter and All-Season Tyres Named Test Winner

File size: 550 KB

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

Alexander Nevinny-Stickel

PR Manager Marketing Communications

+49 (0) 6102 8149-173

Annika Malcherek

Annika Malcherek

Digital Lead Marketing Communications

+49 (0) 6102 8149-176

Stefan Prohaska

Stefan Prohaska

Digital Marketing Communications

 +49 (0) 6102 8149-171

Subscribe to the Hankook press releases