Dymag, British world leaders in carbon composite wheels, has announced a strategic partnership with Hankuk Carbon Co Ltd, of Korea, manufacturers of advanced composite materials, to enable the mass production of state-of-the-art high-performance carbon composite wheels for the world’s leading automotive OEMs.
The collaboration, announced today at JEC World in Paris, will leverage Dymag’s brand and experience in manufacturing lightweight carbon composite wheels for high-performance and luxury vehicle manufacturers, together with Hankuk Carbon’s expertise in advanced materials and industrialisation.
This combination of unparalleled resources and technical expertise will accelerate time-to-market and enable economies of scale in the manufacturing of carbon composite wheels in series production with a focus on a uniquely scalable and localised approach.
Dymag of Chippenham has led advanced wheel design since 1974, with unrivalled heritage in motorsport across two and four-wheels. The company was the first in the world to commercialise carbon hybrid composite automotive wheels in 2004.
Its wheels feature a carbon fibre rim with a forged aluminium or magnesium centerpiece. Dymag is also the market leader in the carbon composite wheel aftermarket with over 15 leading brands using its technology.
Hankuk Carbon has been producing composite materials, including carbon fibre textiles and prepregs since 1984. The business has grown into an international provider of composite material solutions, with plants in South Korea and Vietnam and global offices in China, UK and Germany.
Tom de Lange, Dymag CEO, said of their future production plans, “As part of the partnership with Hankuk we will be assessing a number of different global locations for siting the first automated line. This will depend on both customer expectations and technical, infrastructure and supply chain considerations.
In terms of price, we aim to meet the targets indicated by OEMs that will result in significant increases in demand for carbon wheels and be very competitive within the market.
Obviously there will be a price difference compared to aluminium wheels, but our carbon composite technology brings a huge number of advantages, not least a considerable weight saving, enabling OEMs to optimise their value when viewed as part of a whole vehicle solution. This is relevant to all vehicles, but particularly so when it comes to EVs”