Nokian Tires has opened its third state-of-the-art testing center in Santa Cruz de la Zarza, Spain, to improve the quality of its tires and speed up its product development cycle. Named Hakka Ring, it consists of 10 tracks, including a 7-kilometer-long oval road that surrounds the facility. The company built these tracks to test different Nokian tires in extreme weather conditions.
“All our test centers are investments in innovativeness, and the expansion of testing activities is a big and important leap for us. The versatile tracks and modern equipment of the Spain test center enable us to test tires on wet and dry so that heavy rain or intense heat will not bring any surprises. The Spain Test Center, combined with our Ivalo winter Test Center in Lapland, takes our overall testing capability to the highest possible level,” says Olli Seppälä, Head of R&D.
The 300-acre Test Center will enable year-round testing of summer, all-season, and winter tires. The company has developed the trails for dry and wet testing, in addition to the high-speed oval, allowing assessment at a maximum speed of up to 300 km/h. This testing will enable the company to accelerate its production cycle and boost its place as the best tire manufacturer in Europe and North America. Â
“Now we can test our tires in our test center in all the conditions they are developed for. This is a big competitive advantage for us – especially when considering the products developed for the Central European market and the North American market,” Seppälä continues.
“Similar test centers are rarely built in the world, and the world-class test conditions increase our credibility as a premium tire manufacturer,” says Jukka Kasi, SVP Products and Innovations. The company has set up a team of experts to perform testing duties around the track year-round.
“The entire project has required long-term concentration, as well as great passion, aspiration, and professionalism to turn a dream into reality,” Kasi admires the Nokian Tires team.
