Nokian announces plans for new tire testing facility

NOKIA, Finland—Nokian Tyres P.L.C. is planning to build a 3,230-acre tire testing facility in central Spain to help strengthen its expertise in summer tires.

Nokian is budgeting $19 million for the project, construction of which will run from early 2017 through late 2019. The technology center, as Nokian is calling it, will be built near Santa Cruz de la Zarza, Spain, a village of about 4,500 inhabitants 50 miles south of Madrid.

When in operation, the testing facility will employ 20-30 people in areas such as track maintenance and test driving.

The technology center will allow for year-round product development and testing on demanding and varying tracks, Nokian said, especially for summer tires with high speed ratings as well as the characteristics of winter tires.

“We wanted to find a place in southern Europe with sunshine, warmth and hot temperatures,” said Antti-Jussi Tahtinen, vice president, marketing and communications. “Naturally, the place would also need to have good air and road connections so that the tires, cars, test personnel and customers can easily reach it. We also intend to use the technology center for organizing product launch events.”

The technology center will include a 3-mile oval track with banked curves—enabling speeds up to 186 mph—that will circle the area, Nokian said.

This will help Nokian address the demand for tires with high speed ratings in Central Europe and North America, the two areas Nokian has targeted for growth, Tahtinen said.

Other test tracks for testing aquaplaning, wet braking and handling will be constructed in the center of the oval track.

The Spain center will complement Nokian's 7,500-acre winter testing near Ivalo, Finland, the so-called “White Hell.”

Nokian said it devotes more than its annual research and development costs on testing, saying “sufficient test results cannot be achieved under laboratory conditions alone.”