Nokian Tyres Celebrates 40th Anniversary of Ivalo Test Center

Nokian Tyres is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its Ivalo test center this year. The center is the largest and most diverse winter tire testing environment in the world, and the company tests thousands tires there every year. Also known as “White Hell,” the facility in Finnish Lapland has been the epicenter of Nokian Tyres’ quest to lead the world in winter driving safety since it opened in 1986.

Tire tests are an integral part of Nokian Tyres’ tire development process, and the inventor of the winter tire tests tires on the facility’s 20-plus tracks from November to April. Nokian Tyres maintains more than 40 kilometers of test tracks at White Hell, including a 700-meter-long ice hall, frozen lakes, rural roads and courses curated to test every aspect of a tire’s performance in snow and ice.

“The Ivalo test center is at the core of our expertise – the place where our practical knowledge of extreme winter conditions originates and evolves,” said Nokian Tyres President and CEO Paolo Pompei. “For forty years, Ivalo has been the proving ground for many pioneering innovations, and it will continue to play a key role in our research, development and testing processes.”

Nokian Tyres tests approximately 5,000 passenger and heavy tires from across its global portfolio each year in Ivalo. The facility is located approximately 235 kilometres (150 miles) north of the Arctic Circle and covers more than 700 hectares (1,700 acres).

“There was just a frozen lake when White Hell opened in 1986,” says Nokian Tyres Ivalo test facility Manager Matti Suuripää. “A couple guys from the testing department came here with a trailer full of tires and made a track or two on the ice. There wasn’t a facility, there were just winter conditions.”

Nokian Tyres has built its leading position in winter driving since 1934, when the company developed the world’s first winter tire. Two years later, the global tiremaker introduced the first Hakkapeliitta® branded winter tire and celebrates the legendary tire range’s 90th birthday this year. Its current Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta® winter passenger car tires include the studded Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta® 10 and Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta® LT3 and non-studded Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta® R5 as well as products for vans and RVs.

Source: Nokian Tyres