Dekk Partner recently invited its Nordic suppliers and customers for a winter adventure at Gol Mountain in Norway. It was an intensive week with more than 400 visitors, all experiencing the best of the Norwegian mountains. Temperatures of -22 degrees in the morning (peaking at 6 degrees during the day) meant there was always enough snow-covered roads, but conditions were bearable.
Goodyear and Dunlop have exhibited a number of new and forthcoming products at the 60th IAA show in Hanover. While they shared exhibition space, the two brands maintained their independent identities and made every effort to affirm the company’s emphasis on economy.
The Nokian Hakkapeliitta RSi for passenger cars is a successor for the popular Hakkapeliitta Q friction tyre and it has been developed for the Nordic, Russian and North American markets. Consumer sales with the wide size range will start in the autumn of 2004, writes Nokian in a press release. Several technical innovations developed for the new R speed rated (170 km/h) friction tyre improve grip properties especially when braking and accelerating on snowy, slushy, icy and wet surfaces. The tyre has been manufactured without using harmful high aromatic oils.
Nokian has launched the Hakkapeliitta 4, a new studded, winter tyre, for the Nordic and Russian markets. The tyre incorporates new stud technology, called Nokian Eco Stud System 4, which has a patent pending. In addition, the tread compound incorporates rape seed oil, which Nokian says improves grip properties.
Kumho has become the first tyre manufacturer to be awarded the “Green Swan” Ecolabel for a new product. Both the company’s KWN7401 I’Zen tyre and the manufacturing process passed stringent tests set by the Nordic Ecolabelling Board. These had to demonstrate that the tyre was made with the lowest possible impact on the environment and that it operated in an environmentally friendly way during its lifetime, with low noise levels, low rolling resistance and the ability to be reused after its first life.
Nokian Tyres has warned that its profits for its tyre chain in the fourth quarter, and for the year as a whole, will be lower than expected, although group sales and profits developed as expected during the autumn. The reason cited for lower sales was the mild winter so far in Nordic countries, which depressed sales of winter tyres.
Nokian Tyres has agreed to purchase up to 94 % of the ISKO-shares. ISKO is the largest Finnish Tyre wholesaler and retailer. As soon as the transaction has been completed Nokian Tyres will have the largest equity in “Nordic Europe” consisting of 117 depots with 750 employees in Scandinavia together with Estonia and Latvia.
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