Despite market conditions it refers to as “challenging,” Nokian Tyres claims to have “set production records” at its North American factory in 2024, and also expanded its product range and grew market presence within the region. Monthly production highs in October and November contributed towards the “best year ever” at the 2019-opened Dayton, Tennessee factory.
With the signing of a long-term contract with renewable energy provider Enery, Nokian Tyres has ensured a supply of zero CO2 emission energy for its new passenger car tyre production facility in Romania. The contract is valid for 11 years from 2025 and additionally provides a framework for Enery to construct a new solar power plant in southern Romania.
The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has approved Nokian Tyres’ new greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets, including both near-term targets for 2030 and long-term targets to reach net-zero GHG emissions across the value chain by 2050. SBTi approval means that it considers Nokian Tyres’ targets to be in line with what the latest climate science deems necessary to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
Despite no longer manufacturing or even officially selling its products within the country, Nokian Tyres remains Russia’s best-selling brand of studded winter tyres. Statistics from major e-commerce platform Avito for September 2024 show that Nokian Tyres holds a 19 per cent share of this particular market segment, more than double the eight per cent share held by Pirelli. Ikon Tyres, the brand now produced in the former Nokian Tyres plant in Vsevolozhsk, holds a seven per cent stake in the studded winter segment. Cordiant and Michelin each hold a five per cent share.
Less than two years after announcing the project, Nokian officially opened its new tyre plant in Oradea on 19 September 2024. The Finnish tyre manufacturer sees the whole thing as a milestone. But not just for itself. First and foremost, it wants to use the new building to increase the production capacity it has lacked since it closed its production site in Russia. Apart from that, however, the plant is also a milestone for the tyre industry as a whole, as it is the industry’s ‘first carbon dioxide-free factory’ and demonstrates the potential for sustainable tyre production. The motto of the opening ceremony was therefore ‘Lead to Zero’, which probably means that Nokian sees itself in a pioneering role in this respect.
Nokian Tyres has announced that Anna Hyvönen, EVP Passenger Car Tyres and Vianor, has decided to leave the company. Hyvönen will remain with Nokian Tyres until July 2025.
Yokohama TWS has appointed Elio Bartoli as its new company president, effective 1 December. Elio Bartoli succeeds Paolo Pompei, who is stepping down to become president and CEO at Nokian Tyres. Company representatives thanked Pompei for his ”impressive tenure” with the company.
While Nokian Tyres opened a new test centre in Spain a good three years ago and presented the so-called ‘Hakka Ring’ to a wider public for the first time this spring, the Finnish tyre manufacturer still has a lot going on. This primarily refers to the recent official opening of its new tyre plant in Oradea, less than a year and a half after the foundation stone was laid and less than two years after the decision was made to locate the plant in Romania, less than 20 kilometres from the Hungarian border.
A little over two years after beginning a controlled exit from Russia, which resulted in the sale of its key regional passenger car tyre plant in Vsevolozhsk, Nokian Tyres has officially opened its successor. The company held an inauguration ceremony at its new passenger car tyre factory in Oradea, Romania today in the presence of government and other officials, together with Nokian Tyres’ Board of Directors, management team and some 200 guests.
Roughly a year since our last interview, which focused on how Trelleborg Wheels Systems had been operating since the company’s acquisition by Yokohama, Tyres & Accessories visited the company’s Tivoli, Italy headquarters in order to meet up with Yokohama TWS chief executive Paolo Pompei and to find out more about what has happened in the first year of post-integration business. In the days following our visit, we learnt that Yokohama had agreed to buy Goodyear OTR and that Paolo Pompei has accepted the top job at Nokian Tyres – both headline-grabbing stories that make the timing of our interview all the more prescient. Specifically, Pompei’s description of how the various Yokohama off-highway businesses (ATG, TWS and Aichi – all of which were, of course acquisitions themselves) operate both semi-autonomously and together potentially provides an insight into how the newly-acquired Goodyear OTR operation may be integrated into the Yokohama stable.
The Nokian Tyres factory in Nokia, Finland, has achieved the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) PLUS. This certification allows the company to incorporate new sustainable, ISCC PLUS certified raw materials into its tyres.
Nokian Tyres is investing in a new production line for heavy tyre inner tubes at its factory in Nokia, Finland. The company expects that the first inner tubes made in Nokia will be ready in the first half of 2025. Production in Nokian replaces the manufacture of inner tubes in Lieksa, Finland, where production will end in stages during 2025.
Nokian Tyres will debut a new forestry tyre at the FinnMETKO trade fair in Finland later this month with the introduction of the Nokian Tyres Forest King F2 CTL in a 30.5-inch size. The tyre maker says the Forest King F2 CTL delivers improved performance for harvesters and forwarders, with its increased airspace and minimised chance of rim slip.
Nokian Tyres has entered into a 150-million-euro loan agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB). The eight-year loan will support Nokian Tyres’ strategic investment in Romania, where the company is constructing the world’s first zero CO2 emission tyre factory.
By 1 January 2025 at the latest, Paolo Pompei will conclude his current remit with Yokohama TWS and take on the role of President and Chief Executive Officer at Nokian Tyres. Jukka Moisio will continue in this capacity until Pompei starts in the position.
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