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Piero Facchin
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Nexen Tire opens winter tire testing center in Finland
Piero Facchin
Hits: 113
Nexen Tire announced the opening of a dedicated winter tire testing center at the UTAC site in Ivalo, Finland, 300 km north of the Arctic Circle. This center will serve as a base for performance testing and research and development (R&D) on winter tires.
Faced with the challenge of securing sufficient testing time due to high demand, Nexen decided to build its own facility. This initiative will extend the winter testing period from one to four months, ensuring stable and prolonged trials. The center will include snow and ice tracks covering an area equivalent to 20 football fields, along with R&D offices and workshops.
The site’s extreme conditions provide an ideal environment for testing tire performance. The center will also conduct tests for obtaining the European 3PMSF (Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake) label, ensuring compliance with enhanced winter standards.
The facility, scheduled to fully open in December 2025, aims to shorten development cycles and enhance winter tire technology. This will strengthen Nexen’s competitiveness in Europe, accounting for 40% of its global sales, while supporting its international expansion.
Nexen already operates similar centers in South Korea and New Zealand. UTAC, responsible for building and managing the center, looks forward to this long-term partnership.
Piero Facchin
