Nokian Tyres investing 650 million euros in greenfield factory in Romania

Nokian Tyres’ is investing around 650 million euros in a new passenger car tyre factory in Romania. The new greenfield factory will be located in Oradea in the North-West of Romania, near the Hungarian border. The annual capacity of the factory will be 6 million tyres, with expansion potential for the future. According to an official statement, the site will also house a distribution facility for storage and distribution of tyres. Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2023 and the first tyres are estimated to be produced in the second half of 2024. Commercial tyre production is expected to start in early 2025.

The planned headcount of the Romanian factory is about 500 employees. The factory will concentrate on the production of larger rim size passenger and SUV tyres that will be primarily sold in the Central European market.

The Sion Neolog Synagogue, Oradea, north-west Romania, the city where Nokian will build its newest tyre factory (Photo: Monica Turlui; Pexels)

“This investment is a significant strategic decision enabling our future growth. A world-class manufacturing facility in Europe is a key step in getting additional capacity and creating a balanced manufacturing platform as we start building the new Nokian Tyres without Russia,” said Jukka Moisio, President and CEO of Nokian Tyres.

“Central Europe is an important market for us, and the investment shows our commitment to the market. The new site will be strategically located close to our customers. After a thorough evaluation of over 40 locations and several factors, such as skilled workforce availability, logistical advantages and stable business environment, it was clear that Oradea was the best choice for our new factory,” said Adrian Kaczmarczyk, SVP, Supply Operations.

“We are committed to building a zero CO2 emission factory – the first in our industry. The site location in Romania supports this target as we can utilize green energy produced near the site. In addition, we are critically evaluating the production processes to find the most sustainable ways to produce tyres,” Kaczmarczyk continues.

The news follows Nokian’s June 2022 decision to execute a controlled exit from Russia, which resulted in the October 2022 sale of the firm’s Russia tyre factory to Tatneft. With that in mind, Nokian has expedited “plans to invest in new production capacity in Europe, and the Romanian factory is a key element of these plans”. In addition, Nokian Tyres continues to increase capacity at its factories in Finland and the US, aiming to become geographically more diversified in its manufacturing operations.