Building up a healthy speed and yanking the wheel for turn one (a nice, sharp right), your first impression is you're going too slow. The Bimmer's chassis, along with the impressive grip of the Ventus V12s, encourage you to bury the pedal further the next time around. In fact, Hankook's performance tires display impressive grip throughout the course, and making them scream takes considerable speed -- more than most people would be comfortable trying on such a compact track. More scientific examination yields similar results, too, as the Ventus line has racked up platitudes and comparison test wins in German car magazines such as AutoBild and Auto, Motor und Sport.
A case full of trophies and awards still can't guarantee sales success, however, and ultimately this is Hankook's greatest challenge -- differentiating itself in an increasingly crowded marketplace. As CEO Seung Hwa Suh notes, considering that all tires are basically "round, black, and rubber," standing out from the crowd isn't exactly easy. To help build brand recognition, the tiremaker has a presence at SEMA, advertises in baseball stadiums, participates in motorsport events and off-road rallies around the world, and sponsors a team in the Formula Drift series. Hankook has even gone so far as to debut the world's first drifting Porsche, a modified, 600-hp 993 GT2 Turbo driven by Tyler McQuarrie, in competition in 2007. In addition the company has also created a new, global advertising strategy, headed by the slogan "Tame the Road."
Yet despite this, Hankook still lacks a marketing counterpunch to cultural icons like the Goodyear Blimp and Michelin Man, or even the cachet Pirelli enjoys by being the official supplier to Ferrari. That said, don't count the Korean tiremaker out, as its promotional efforts have already paid off by making Ventus Ultra High Performance tires the company's fastest-selling line. Now, thanks to a focus on high quality and low prices, Hankook's aftermarket sales for all-season tires are improving, too, and the company is strengthening relationships with popular dealers such as The Tire Rack in order to keep that momentum going. Whether or not this will help push the tiremaker into the mainstream alongside companies like Goodyear and Continental, however, remains to be seen.
Back in 1986, many competitors scoffed at Hyundai's low-priced offerings, especially since the automaker had started out building Korean-market Ford Cortinas just 19 years earlier, when names like Oldsmobile, Plymouth, Peugeot, and Alfa Romeo ruled the world's roads. Today, however, all those brands have either been banished from the American market or killed off entirely, while upstart Hyundai continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Similar to that time, Hankook Tire's total 2007 sales of $3.5 billion still pales in comparison to the more than $21 billion in revenue Bridgestone and Michelin each took in during the same year. Given this disparity, chances are rival executives in Japan and France probably aren't exactly watching Hankook with concern. But considering that the Korean tiremaker has gone from making just 670,000 tires annually in 1973, the year CEO Seung Hwa Suh first joined the company as a lowly materials buyer, to being on track to produce approximately 75-80 million worldwide in 2010, they might be wise to start.