Nokian Tyres
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.
The winter tyre is 90 years old in 2024. Nokian Tyres brought the Kelirengas, its first product with a winter-specific tread pattern, to market in 1934. This was also the year that Continental threw its hat into the winter tyre ring with a tyre called the Gelände.
New summer and all-season products have joined the Nokian Tyres portfolio for vans and delivery vehicles. After debuting the Seasonproof C1 all-season tyre in November, Nokian Tyres will release the Cargoproof C summer tyre in February 2025. Both sit alongside the existing Nokian Tyres Snowproof C winter tyre within the Finnish manufacturer’s van segment range.
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.
Paolo Pompei will assume the role of President and CEO of Nokian Tyres plc on 1 January 2025, confirms the company’s Board of Directors. He succeeds Jukka Moisio, who will retire from the tyre maker at the end of 2024.
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.
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.
Nokian Tyres has entered into a development agreement with Swedish biomaterial science company Reselo AB to advance the use of Reselo Rubber as a potential raw material in tyre manufacturing. Reselo Rubber is derived from birch bark, a residue of the global pulp, paper, and plywood industry. The partnership aims to adapt this renewable material for commercial tyre production.
In what it calls a “significant development for the forestry industry,” Nokian Tyres has launched a new 30.5-inch size tyre in the Forest King F2 range. This introduction is particularly relevant for Cut-to-Length (CTL) forestry machines, as it caters to the growing demands for larger and more powerful forwarders and harvesters being deployed within the industry. The tyre maker states a commitment to “pushing the boundaries in the CTL segment” by “providing innovative solutions that enhance productivity and efficiency in the forestry industry.”
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.
The European Commission has approved Romanian state aid worth 99.5 million euros (RON 495.2 million) to support the construction of Nokian Tyres’ new zero-CO2 tyre factory in Oradea, Romania – the first such factory in the world. Nokian Tyres says its total investment in the project is worth 650 million euros. Construction started in May 2023. Once completed the factory will produce approximately 6 million tyres per year with the potential for future expansion. The first tyre was produced on 1 July 2024. Commercial production is due to start in early 2025.
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.
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