Critical Shifts:
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New Dedicated Off-Road Track: Hankook has officially debuted the "Tennessee Proving Grounds" at its Clarksville, TN manufacturing facility, featuring a specialized off-road performance track complete with mud, gravel, rock crawl, hill climb, sand, and water obstacles.
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Experiential "Drive & Learn" Expansion: Shifting away from traditional classroom dealer training, Hankook’s expanded 2026 program running from May through October will host four regional events across key markets (including TN, IL, and TX) to give dealers firsthand driving experience to boost point-of-sale confidence.
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Broad Product & Plant Exposure: The program combines hands-on product testing of key tire lines—including the Dynapro SUV line, Laufenn associate brand, iON EV-exclusive line, and Weatherflex all-weather tires—with an inside look at the production process via a tour of Hankook's first U.S. manufacturing plant.
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Global tiremaker Hankook Tire is expanding its Drive & Learn program for 2026 with four regional events and the introduction of the Tennessee Proving Grounds, a new off-road performance track at its U.S. manufacturing facility in Clarksville, Tenn.
The Hankook Tennessee Proving Grounds features several off-road elements with mud, gravel, rock crawl, hill climb, sand, and water obstacles.
The expanded program moves beyond traditional classroom training by offering dealers, industry media, and partners firsthand opportunities to validate product performance in real-world driving environments, while strengthening product knowledge, sales readiness, and brand confidence. The 2026 Drive & Learn series, running from May through October, will bring together dealer partners, industry media, and content creators in key U.S. markets, including Tennessee, Illinois, and Texas. The program will provide direct exposure to Hankook Tire’s key brands, including the SUV tire brand ‘Dynapro’, the associate brand ‘Laufenn,’ the EV-exclusive tire brand ‘iON’, and the premium all-weather tire ‘Weatherflex’.
Hankook Tire recently launched the first event of the 2026 series at its Tennessee manufacturing facility in Clarksville, featuring the Dynapro AT2 Xtreme, Dynapro XT, Dynapro MT2, and the new Laufenn X Fit AT2. This event marked the official debut of the Tennessee Proving Grounds, a long-term asset developed to support dealer engagement, product education, and structured performance validation.
In addition to experiencing the Tennessee Proving Grounds’ off-road elements with mud, gravel, rock crawl, hill climb, sand, and water obstacles, dealers were able to get an up-close and personal look at Hankook Tire’s manufacturing process. Touring the Tennessee Plant, Hankook Tire’s first U.S. manufacturing facility, gave participants direct insight into the production of passenger car, light truck, and truck bus radial tires, creating a seamless connection between hands-on product trials and the innovation behind each tire.
Unlike traditional classroom-based dealer training, Hankook Tire’s Drive & Learn program puts participants behind the wheel in controlled, real-world environments designed to transform product knowledge into firsthand confidence at the point of sale.
