Expanding Retail Business a Priority for Nokian

Finnish cold weather tyre specialist Nokian has told the daily newspaper Aamulehti that it plans to expand its retail business. The company has made no secret of its desire for its retail tyre chain, Vianor, to be the leading chain in its home market, however comments made by CEO Kim Gran hint at ever greater ambitions.

“One could say our final aim is to have a retail chain which covers the globe in the lands of ice and snow,” said Gran. He further indicated that the tyremaker is considering drawing on the resources of a second company in order to accomplish its plans. “It could well be that we have a partner that then utilises our retail chain to sell its own products.”

At present the Vianor chain is present in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia and Russia, and the company is working at growing in Russia and the CIS countries through a partner network.