Nokian Tyres and Qingdao Sentury Tire have signed a contract manufacturing agreement. According to the agreement, Qingdao Sentury Tire will manufacture selected Nokian passenger car tires for the Central European market. Tires manufactured at the Sentury production facility are designed by Nokian Tyres and have been tested in Nokian’s testing facilities to meet company requirements for safety and quality. They will be sold under the Nokian brand.
Nokian Tyres is negotiating additional contract manufacturing agreements – the total annual volume of which in 2023-2027 is estimated to be between 1,000,000 and 3,000,000 – to complement production at its own facilities.
The collaboration between Nokian Tyres and Qingdao Sentury Tire builds on a long-term partnership and secures the availability of Nokian tires in the Central European market. Production will begin in the first half of 2023 and the first tires will be on the market in the second half of the year. The manufacturing site will be regularly audited according to Nokian Tyres’ quality, sustainability and safety requirements.
Along with contract manufacturing, Nokian Tyres is advancing its efforts to increase its own production. As announced in early November, the company will invest €650m (US$691m) in a new zero-CO2-emission production site in Romania. Commercial production is scheduled to begin at the factory in 2025. At the same time, the company has continued to increase capacity at its factories in Finland and the USA.
“We have started to build the new Nokian Tyres without production in Russia, and contract manufacturing is an essential part of these plans,” said Jukka Moisio, president and CEO of Nokian Tyres. “It complements our own production and helps us respond to demand even more quickly and flexibly. With the new factory in Romania, increasing capacity in Finland and the USA and the contract manufacturing, we are laying a strong foundation for Nokian Tyres’ future growth.”
