Kumho opened its European Technical Centre at the Birmingham Business Park in the West Midlands on June 17th 1998. Now, several years later, it is continuing to pave the road to success for the Kumho brand within Europe. Tyre Development Engineers at the European Technical Centre are currently working with leading European vehicle manufacturers to tailor Kumho products to meet their exacting performance requirements. The result of their efforts is a resounding success in the form of a major contract to supply car tyres as original equipment to Volkswagen, and on going developments with other companies.
Kumho Tyres is currently supplying some 200,000 tyres a year to Volkswagen for fitment to the Polo vehicle. In addition to activities in the car tyre sector, Kumho truck tyre engineers based at the European Technical Centre continue their work of tuning the future ranges of Kumho truck tyre products to ensure that they too meet the needs and expectations of their equally demanding European customers. Materials specialists working at the European Technical Centre are searching for and studying the application of a range of exciting new materials that will give Kumho tyres the edge in an ultra‑competitive global marketplace. One example of this work is the current investigation into the benefits nanotechnology may offer the tyre.