Optimo is a new sub-brand from Hankook
The Korean Hankook has announced the launch of a new sub-brand, Optimo, which is expected to help the company increase its share in the European market and "better meet customer needs through a diversified brand portfolio".
Optimo joins other company brands such as Laufenn and Kingstar, and will focus on the passenger tire sector, with the lineup reportedly "designed for high market coverage with products for segments with rapid growth in demand". As other manufacturers do, the tread patterns were borrowed from tires under the main brand of one of the previous generations.
The name Optimo was borrowed from one of Hankook's successful all-season lines and is expected to symbolize product reliability, as well as "the ability to meet market demand with an optimized range, covering all-season tires created with a wide range of customer needs in mind".
The new lineup includes the summer tires Optimo GT and Optimo Touring (with tread patterns from Hankook Ventus Prime3 and Kinergy Eco, respectively) and all-weather Optimo All Weather (with a design from Hankook Optimo 4S), which will also be available in a crossover and SUV version called Optimo All Weather SUV. In the winter segment, Optimo Winter GT and Optimo Winter Touring will be offered, whose tread patterns were inherited from Hankook Winter i*cept evo2 and Winter i*cept RS2, respectively.
According to Hankook's European Operations Director, Jongho Park, in recent years the company has achieved significant sales growth in the European market, and the creation of a new sub-brand "will help extend this success story into the future".
In the first stage, the summer Optimo GT (in sizes with a diameter of 16-20 inches) and Optimo Touring (14-15 inches), as well as all-weather Optimo All Weather and All Weather SUV (respectively 14-18 and 17-19 inches), have gone on sale, while in March 2025, they will be joined by winter Optimo Winter GT and Winter Touring in sizes with a diameter of 16-20 and 14-15 inches, respectively.
In all marketing materials, it will be indicated that Optimo tires are produced by Hankook, which "should increase the brand value and confirm the quality of the products". Hankook will also support the new brand using its sales tools, including digital ones, to provide it with the necessary recognition and customer loyalty. In the second quarter of 2025, the tires will also appear on other markets outside of Europe.
In 2015, Hankook launched its second-line brand Laufenn, which, according to the company, has proven itself well in Europe and is present on the market with a full range of tires for passenger and commercial vehicles, SUVs, trucks, and buses. Hankook itself is one of the leaders in the global tire market and supplies tires under its main brand to premium car manufacturers such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche.