Kumho taps Goodyear for European tech centre

Moerfelden-Walldorf, Germany – Korean tire maker Kumho has added two former Goodyear Dunlop managers to its team at the Kumho European Technical Centre (KETC), in Moerfelden-Walldorf, near Frankfurt.

Heading the centre since the beginning of June, Matthias Bode is responsible for the development of all Kumho products for the European OE and replacement markets, Kumho announced 24 June.

Bode began his career in 1995 in the development department of Dunlop GmbH, Hanau, and has since held various positions within the Goodyear Dunlop group.

Amongst others, he has headed compound development at the Goodyear Technical Centre in Akron, Ohio, and led Dunlop’s winter tires development in Germany.

As of 2012, he oversaw the development of materials and compound technologies for winter and summer tires, as well as ‘ultra ultra high performance segment’ within Goodyear.

In his most recent position at Goodyear Dunlop, Bode was senior manager of compound development for the EMEA/Asia Pacific region at the group’s Luxembourg and Hanau facilities.

In his new role Bode reports directly to M J Lee, senior vice president, at the Kumho’s global R&D centre in Korea.

Joining Kumho at the same time as Bode was another former Goodyear Dunlop employee, Roberto Sangalli, who has taken up the role of manager, tire engineering for KETC.

In addition to Goodyear, Sangalli has previously worked for Pirelli where he was responsible for the development of tires for Formula 1, GP2, GP3, and all GT series products.