The Finnish manufacturer Nokian Tires will invest 650 million euros in the construction of a tire factory in Oradea, writes Reuters. The company left the Russian market and wants to compensate for losses there. The plant will manufacture car tires, and serial production should begin in the first months of 2025.

The plant will have 500 employees and will mainly produce tires for SUVs and other high-end vehicles, with the main target markets in Central Europe.

Construction should begin in the first months of 2023, and the first tires, as part of test production, will roll off the assembly lines in the second half of 2024.

“In the third quarter of 2022, we focused on the company’s development plans without Russia. Today we are pleased to announce that we are investing €650 million in a new factory in Oradea,” the company said in its quarterly report on November 1.

The annual capacity will be 6 million tires with the possibility of capacity expansion.

Nokian began a “controlled exit” from the Russian market in June, and this exit was fully implemented in October after the sale of PJSC Tatnafta operations. In July, imports from Russia to Europe and North America stopped.

The annual production capacity of Nokian in Russia was 17 million tires.

In 2021, Nokian’s net sales amounted to 1.7 billion euros, a 30% increase compared to 2020, which was extremely weak due to the pandemic. Operating profit amounted to 268 million euros, which is more than double compared to 2020.

In the last quarter (July-September), Nokian’s sales in the world increased by 5% to 466 million euros.

The company has 4,900 employees and plants in Finland and the United States.

It is updated