Nokian Launches Phase Two of its Russian Plant

The second stage of Nokian Tyres‘ Russian factory, which started operation in June 2005, was launched today (22 November) in Vsevolozhsk. The second stage launch marks the conclusion of construction work on the warehouse and the mixing departments, which started in September 2005.

The 19,000 square metre warehouse can house approximately 600,000 tyres. The start-up and test-run of the first mixing line at the new department was done in September and the second line is being installed. The new mixing department enables the company to produce rubber compounds for tyre production locally in Russia and end deliveries from the Nokia factory in Finland.

“The building and expansion work of our Russian factory has proceeded well and we have been able to accelerate the timetable. The new mixing department enables us to take into use the third and the fourth production lines at the tyre factory in 2007 and to reach the capacity of 4 million tyres by 2008 as planned,” says Kim Gran, president and CEO of Nokian Tyres.

The Vsevolozhsk factory manufactures Nokian-branded car summer and winter tyres, the majority of which are sold in Russia and CIS countries. Currently the daily output of the factory is approximately 6,000 tyres. The production volume and quality are in line with targets.

Nokian Tyres has a strong position in the rapidly growing Russian tyre market. In January-September 2006 Nokian Tyres’ sales in Russia increased by approximately 70 per cent compared to the previous year. According to Tyres & Accessories’ research, in 2005 Nokian was level on passenger car market share with Michelin – both companies holding five per cent each. However, this figure is some way behind the domestic market players that hold as much as four times this amount.