Kumho Tyres gains a foothold to rebuild its reputation through expanding Mercedes-Benz supply

Kumho Tyres, one of the world's leading tyre manufacturers, expands its partnership with world-renowned Mercedes-Benz of Daimler.  The company announced today that it will supply original equipment (OE) tyres to Mercedes Benz's Sprinter vans which will be sold in Europe and North America, starting from May.

Kumho Tyres is the only tyre manufacturer in Korea which supplies to Mercedes-Benz. Sprinter is the fourth model of Mercedes-Benz's vehicles that Kumho Tyres supplies tyres for.  Previously, the company has been supplying its tyres for A-Class, Viano and Actros.

The supply for Sprinter displays that Kumho Tyres proved its product quality again by continously extending its supplies to one of the leading automobile manufacturers in the world, from A-Class and the high-end multipurpose van, Viano, from 2007, construction trucks and tractors, Actros, for korean market last year to commercial cargo vans, Sprinter, this year.  Sprinter models equipped with Kumho's OE Tyres will hit the martkets in Europe, North America and Asia.

The Sprinter is one of the best selling commercial vehicles in Europe, and also well known as 'Benz ambulance' in Korea as it is often converted to an ambulance.  Kumho Tyres expects that the supply for Sprinter will have a ripple effect on improving the company's brand recognition as well as on increasing sales in replacement equipment (RE) market.

 Kumho Tyres plans aggressive sales to supply its tyres to high-end automobiles and to continue to increase its competitiveness in OE tyre market to keep pace with the growing premium tyre market.  Kumho Tyres currently supplies OE tyres to Big 3 automobile manufacturers in North America and to Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen in Europe while the company aims to expand its partnership with more global automobile manufacturers.

 A spokesperson of Kumho Tyres said, "The reinforced partnership with Mercedes-Benz proves that Kumho Tyres is being recognized for its technological process and quality in global market."