Work begins in Oradea on the tire plant of the Finns Nokian Tires, an investment of 650 million euros, the largest in the last 20 years, attracted by the city of Krishana. Romania has lost several major automotive investments in recent years, but the west of the country, which has better road connections with Central Europe, has a considerable advantage.

Nokian’s plans are for the Oradea plant to become the group’s largest car tire manufacturer by 2027, with 40% of total global production of more than 15 million tires per year. According to estimates, 35% of production will be carried out in Finland (factory in Nokia City) and 25% in the USA (factory in Dayton).

Thanks to the Oradea plant in particular, Nokian Tires hopes to achieve worldwide annual sales of two billion euros, up from 1.35 billion euros last year.

According to the approved PUD, in the first phase, two halls will be installed on the site of the former CET II Oradea, the first of which will be used as a warehouse and administrative building, and the second as a warehouse. premises where to complete the building for engineering communications and other extensions.

The production facilities will be built gradually, and at the end of the investment, the total built-up area will be 256,000 square meters, the developed area will be 549,000 square meters and more than 100,000 square meters of green space.

The annual capacity of the plant will be 6 million tires with the possibility of expansion in the future. The first tires are expected to be produced in the second half of 2024. According to the investor, commercial production of tires will begin in early 2025.

In November 2022, Nokian announced the construction of a plant in Oradea. This decision is important for the economy of the region, as well as for Romania in particular, especially since our country has lost other major investments in cars, especially through infrastructure.

Nokian decided to build the factory mainly because, due to the war started by Russia in Ukraine, it had to close its operations in the Russian Federation, where it had a large production of car tires. The exit from the Russian market took place in March after the sale of operations for $265 million.

Total costs to close operations in Russia exceed $330 million.

The Oradea plant will employ 500 employees and will mainly produce tires for SUVs and other high-end vehicles, with Central Europe as the main target market. The Finns say they analyzed 40 sites before choosing Oradea.

The net salary will be more than 5,800 lei, which is almost twice the average salary in the region.

According to the government, the state aid requested by Nokian for the implementation of the investment project is estimated at a nominal value of EUR 99.55 million (gross value).

State aid will be provided in the form of a grant only after the European Commission issues a permit decision, and the period of state aid payment will be 2023-2028.

The investment project must be supported for a period of at least 5 years.

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