DAYTON, Tenn. — Nokian Tyres has invested half a billion dollars into a factory in Southeast Tennessee where it employs more than 500 people and produces millions of tires a year that are shipped across North America.
Now, the company wants more Americans to know its name.
There are larger tire companies with more familiar brands in the U.S. market. Perhaps their name is painted across huge venues, like Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, or attached to fine dining awards, like the stars given by the Michelin Guide.
Nokian Tyres, which invented the winter tire in 1934, is inseparable from the culture of Finland, where it’s headquartered in the city of Nokia and publicly traded on Nasdaq Helsinki. More than half of its $1.1 billion in sales for the first three quarters of 2025 were in Nordic countries.
The brand is hoping to increase U.S. awareness of its name through a new campaign that will be assisted by generative artificial intelligence, said Chris Ostrander, the company’s senior vice president of North America.