Kumho Tires said Wednesday that it will provide the nation’s first electric car-only tires for Renault Samsung Motors’ new all-electric compact SM3 Z.E. from October this year until 2018.

The tire maker recently signed an agreement with the Korean unit of the France-based Renault Group to supply the SM3 Z.E. with its low-resistance tires exclusively developed for electric vehicles.

Kumho also launched an electric-car tire brand, WATTRUN, pledging to ramp up efforts to take an early edge in the emerging electric car market, the company said.

The SM3 Z.E., dubbed a “zero emission” model, travels 123 kilometers when it is fully charged. It takes roughly 4.1 seconds to go from 0 to 50 kilometers per hour.

(jylee@heraldcorp.com)