Here, as promised at the end of April, is our in-depth interview with Nokian Tyres CEO, Paolo Pompei. Our wide-ranging discussion covered topics including: sustainability, manufacturing and more…
But the first question was: With the first quarter of 2025 under your belt, what is your experience of transitioning to the leadership of Nokian Tyres?
The Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. has formally announced that on 22 May 2025 it acquired “the fixed assets (land, building, and OTR tire production machinery) of a closed plant located in Romania” through its off-highway tyre (OHT) subsidiary Yokohama TWS Romania S.R.L. Although the acquired business is not mentioned by name in Yokohama’s official statement, the Mehedinți County location is the same as the Euro Tyres operation we have repeatedly linked with acquisition by Yokohama.
In March we posed the question “is Yokohama considering Romania for its new European tyre factory?” The short answer is yes – a spokesperson for Yokohama OHT has confirmed that parent company Yokohama Rubber (YRC) will acquire insolvent Romanian off-highway tyre manufacturing business Euro Tyres Manufacturing SRL.
Yokohama is in the process of buying Romanian off-highway tyre manufacturing business Euro Tires Manufacturing SRL. Euro Tires Manufacturing reportedly went bankrupt at the end of January 2025 after almost 7 years of an insolvency and reorganisation process that began back in 2018. Yokohama Rubber sent a letter of intent regarding the acquisition of assets belonging to Euro Tires Manufacturing at the end of 2024, according to various Romanian news sources. The big question is: do these developments suggest that Romania will be the location of Yokohama’s long-previewed European car and/or truck tyre factory?
A second Nokian Tyres plant has achieved International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) PLUS status. Nokian Tyres reports that its factory in Oradea, Romania, which opened in the latter part of last year, is now certified to utilise sustainable, ISCC PLUS raw materials in its tyres. Certification in Romania follows that for the Nokian Tyres car tyre plant in Nokia, Finland, which obtained ISCC Plus in 2024.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Continental has taken possession of an additional 20,000 square metres of warehouse space for tyre storage near its Timisoara factory in Romania. The warehouse facility is located in the VGP Park Timisoara and has a total area of almost 32,800 square metres.
A few days after we published details of Nokian Tyres’ progress and timeline for its Romania tyre factory, company representatives confirmed that the Oradea plant produced its first tyre on 1 July 2024. “The milestone was reached as planned, and the building project is progressing in budget and on schedule for commercial tyre production to start in early 2025”, Nokian officials said in a statement.
At the end of Nokian Tyres’s recent statement announcing the completion of its Dayton, Tennessee tyre factory, company representatives wrote: “Later this year, Nokian Tyres will open a new production facility in Oradea, Romania, with officials reporting “it will be the world’s first zero CO2 emission tyre factory.” To find out more about both the news that the Romania factory’s construction will be complete in 2024 and its status as “the world’s first zero CO2 emission tyre factory”, Tyres & Accessories got in touch which executives at the Finland-based company’s headquarters.
Michelin is set to transfer the truck tyre production capacity it currently operates at its Olsztyn, Poland factory to Romania. Currently, 430 people work in the Olsztyn, Poland factory truck tyre production operation.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.