KUMHO CHALLENGES THE TOP EUROPEAN BRANDS SCORING A PODIUM FINISH IN THE ANNUAL WHEELS TYRE TEST
Kumho has surprised critics by scoring a podium placing in the highly respected annual Wheels Magazine Tyre Test recording a giant killing performance to take a close third behind two much more expensive European tyres.
Kumho's KU39 also finished ahead of well established and respected Japanese brands in the gruelling and uncompromising Wheels test making it arguably the best value performance tyre on the Australian market.
Wheels Magazine concluded that "third place for the Kumho is a great result, and it showed up some big names from Bridgestone and Dunlop".
Both of the tyres that finished just ahead of the Kumho were up to 35 percent more expensive than the Kumho Ecsta LE Sport KU39.
The Kumho KU39 Ecsta finished just 1.5 percentage points away from the second placed Continental tyre and just 2.9 percentage points away from the Michelin tyre which took top honours in the test.
This despite the fact that the Kumho KU39 retails for around $340 while the Michelin retails for approximately $460 and the Continental $440.
According to Kumho Tyres Australia managing director, Mr Edmund Cho, the result is an undisputed confirmation that Kumho has arrived as a tyre brand delivering tyres that perform at the highest levels at affordable prices.
"The performance of the Ecsta KU39 in the Wheels Tyre Test shows it is a world class performance tyre capable of holding its own against any of the acknowledged industry leaders and underlines the fact that Kumho is now one of the world's top tyre brands," said Mr Cho.
"It should also help change the views of critics who in the past may have discriminated against Kumho as a result of ill founded perceptions," he said.
"The Wheels Tyre Test is a totally objective and scientific assessment of premium tyres that clearly demonstrates the KU39 is tyre that delivers great performance and a great price," he added.
The Wheels Tyre Test was carried out under control conditions with well-known race driver David Sieders testing all the tyres under the same conditions, using a new Kia Optima at the Eastern Creek raceway skidpan.
The Kumho KU39 was the top ranked tyre for wet braking and was ranked second for both wet cornering and for the dry slalom tests giving an overall score of 96.5 percent.
Sieders was not only unaware of which tyre he was using on any given test but was unaware of which brands were included in the test. Each tyre was ranked in each of the seven tests with the six dynamic tests scored out of 10 with the winning tyre getting the full count and each subsequent tyre allocated points proportional to its performance relative to the winner. The noise test was scored out of 5 with total points were totalled for a score out of 65 which was then converted to a percentage for ease of reading.