HERNDON, Va. — A pair of Nexen Tire Corp.'s tire designs have earned International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) recognition for engineering and innovation.
The tires are "Breathre," an air-purifying concept tire engineered to help reduce pollution by removing fine particles and dust from the air and then discharging purified air, and 'N'FERA AU7, an ultra-high performance tire developed for high-end sedans.
"Breathre," Nexen said, "was reviewed favorably for having suggested a new paradigm for the tire industry."
'N'FERA AU7 is available commercially, Nexen said, and is designed to deliver a stable, quiet ride, while also offering "outstanding" handling and braking performance at high speeds.
"Nexen Tire's product competitiveness was proven by the prestigious IDEA design awards received by Nexen Tire's commercialized and conceptual products," said Kyung Woo Cheon, Nexen's executive vice president of research and development.
"Nexen Tire will continue to lead the industry with differentiated product competitiveness, in addition to the innovative and active strategies."
The International Design Excellence Awards are presented annually by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and award recipients are chosen by a panel of international design experts.
Winners of this year's IDEA competition will be honored Aug. 19 during a ceremony at Atlanta's Woodruff Arts Center. Additional information is available online at idsa.org/IDEA.
Founded in 1942 and headquartered in Seoul, Nexen designs and manufactures tires for passenger cars, SUVs and light trucks. The firm owns and operates three plants — two in South Korea and one in China. A fourth plant, planned for Zatec, Czech Republic, is due on stream in 2018.