Hankook Tire & Technology announced Wednesday that it swept six awards in the design concept category of the Red Dot Design Award 2026, taking two best-of-best honors and four honorable mentions.
The Red Dot Design Award is considered one of the world's three most prestigious design competitions, alongside Germany's iF Design Award and the US-based IDEA. The award selects winners each year across three categories: product design, brand and communication design, and design concept.
All six entries submitted by Hankook Tire were recognized. The iFlex Gen 2, one of the two best-of-best winners, is a next-generation non-pneumatic concept tire optimized for future electric vehicles and autonomous driving environments. Building on the original iFlex unveiled in 2015 through continuous research and development, the design is the first in the industry to apply a circumferential spoke structure, enhancing aesthetic refinement, noise reduction and driving stability.
The second best-of-best winner, Medi Buddy, is a future medical mobility design developed through an industry-academia collaboration between Hankook Tire and the Korea Institute of Design Promotion's Korea Design Membership Plus program. It is a smart IV pole design that uses autonomous driving and AI technology to interact with hospitalized children, easing anxiety and supporting psychological stability. The judges recognized its innovation and potential as a future mobility solution.
The four honorable mention winners were the Bladder Upcycling Series from the upcycling project "Remove," Concept S — a vision of a tire made entirely from eco-friendly materials by 2050 — Wheelbot2, a spherical concept tire capable of 360-degree omnidirectional movement, and Bloom, a smart urban canopy design. All four stood out for their sustainability focus and forward-looking vision.
Hankook Tire became the first Korean company to win the Red Dot Award "Luminary" in 2015, then claimed the iF Gold in 2016 — the first in the tire industry — and the IDEA Bronze in 2017, completing a sweep of all three major global design awards.
Meanwhile, Hankook Tire continues to expand its global customer touchpoints through various marketing activities, including a two-year extension of its official partnership with German Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund.
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