South Korean car-sharing company Socar (KRX: 403550) and tire manufacturer Hankook Tire (KRX: 161390) have announced a strategic partnership to innovate the car-sharing experience.
Shin-Myung Kim, Head of Mobility Experience (MX) at Socar, and Yong-Kwan Lee, Managing Director of Hankook Tire, attended the signing ceremony of the business agreement.
The partnership will focus on improving quality control of car-sharing vehicles and expanding service accessibility by leveraging Hankook Tire's T-Station infrastructure and network, a tire-centric, full-service automotive store.
Initially, the two companies will collaborate on quality control for Socar vehicles.
Then, starting in 2019, they will collaborate on fleet management services, including tire replacement for tens of thousands of Socar vehicles through a network of more than 110 T-Stations across South Korea.
This year, they implemented a fleet management system capable of predicting and proactively responding to vehicle conditions by analyzing Socar's accumulated vehicle data.
Starting in May, Socar Zones will operate alongside offline T-Stations across the country to increase the accessibility of car sharing.
The plan is to transform the urban T-Station service network into offline locations for accessing car-sharing services, significantly improving access to Socar Zones and increasing the efficiency of fleet management.
Socar will also offer free rentals to customers who visit T-Stations for car service by providing a coupon for a free two-hour rental that can be used at any Socar Zone nationwide, except Jeju.
Shin-Myung Kim, Head of Socar MX, expressed his optimism about the partnership, saying, "We look forward to working with Hankook Tire, which has professional fleet management capabilities and an offline network, to provide a safer and more convenient car-sharing service.
Furthermore, Socar aims to continue to innovate the user experience through efficient and data-driven fleet management.
