COLCHESTER, Vt. — Nokian Tyres North America is planning to move its headquarters over the coming 12 months from Colchester to Nashville, Tenn., about 150 miles west of Dayton, Tenn., where the firm's parent company is building its first U.S. plant.
It is unclear how many of the 65 employees at the Vermont facility will be relocated, eliminated or remain in Colchester, where the company will retain all or or part of the 200,000-sq.-ft. facility as a warehouse and distribution center.
Hans Dyhrman, Nokian's director of marketing, said there are two reasons for the move.
"No. 1 is to be closer to the manufacturing facility," Mr. Dyhrman said. "It's a shorter, much shorter, distance drive down to Dayton. Secondly, Tennessee and Nashville is certainly becoming an auto industry hub. In terms of access to employees, there are a lot of opportunities."
Mr. Dyhrman said it's too early to determine how many employees will be offered relocation or remain at the Vermont facility.
"We don't have specifics pinned down at this point in time," he said. "That's why we're taking a long transition period. We'll see what employees may or may not be interested in relocating and proceed from that."