NOKIA, Finland (Dec. 20, 2002) — Nokian Tyres P.L.C. and Russia's Amtel Holdings B.V. have expanded their fledgling relationship in the former Soviet Union, agreeing to set up a production and sales joint venture for Amtel- and Nordman-brand tires and to build a joint venture plant for making Nokian-brand tires.
The venture, Amtel-Nokian Tyres, will make Nordman and Amtel brand tires at Amtel-controlled factories in Kirov and Voronezh, Russia, and Rosava, Ukraine, Nokian said, for distribution in the Confederation of Independent States.
The venture should produce 900,000 passenger and light truck tires next year and quadruple that in 2004 to 3.6 million; the partners will invest about $25 million in the next two years to upgrade the plants.
The second phase, for a new factory, will be a Nokian majority-owned; the new plant would have annual capacity of 1.2 million units within three years of final approval of the project. A site for the plant was not disclosed.