Nexen Tire voted Czech ‘investor of the year’

In 2018, Nexen Tire’s new 1.2 trillion Korean won (£705 million) tyre factory in the Czech Republic will enter operation. The tyre maker confirmed the project in June 2014 and says the facility it is building in Zatec will be “one of the most cutting-edge and eco-friendly plants in the world.”

Nexen’s decision to set up a manufacturing facility in the country has been publicly lauded by the Czech government, including President Milos Zeman. A further sign of the value placed upon the company’s growing presence in the Czech Republic was seen last Thursday, when Nexen Tire was named Investor of the Year 2014 at a ceremony organised by government agency CzechInvest and non-government, non-profit organisation the Association for Foreign Investment.

The fifteenth annual Investor and Business Property of the Year awards honoured the thirteen business property projects deemed to be the most significant of 2014. The ceremony was held under the auspices of Industry and Trade minister Jan Mládek, who also presented an award to representatives of the company whose investment was judged by an expert jury to be the most significant of last year – Nexen Tire.

The tyre maker was honoured in the awards’ manufacturing category. The jury noted that Nexen’s investment in the Triangle Strategic Industrial Zone will lead to the creation of 1,384 jobs. The passenger car tyre factory’s production capacity will be gradually raised in line with market demand and may eventually exceed 12 million tyres a year, and is expected to increasingly supply Nexen’s original equipment customers in Europe. OEM customers will also benefit from the enlarged research and development facility that Nexen Tire intends to set up in Germany.