Apollo Tyres to open outdoor tire testing facility in Finland
Ivalo, Finland – In a move to redefine its development capabilities, Apollo Tyres Ltd announced the upcoming opening of a cutting-edge outdoor tire testing facility at Ivalo, Finland, specifically engineered for winter and all-season tire evaluation. This strategic move marks a significant milestone in the company’s long-term commitment to innovation, testing excellence and customer-centric product development.
Being developed under a long-term agreement with UTAC, a globally recognized automotive testing and certification group, the facility will feature exclusive, tailor-made infrastructure and dedicated test tracks, purpose-built for winter and all-season tire testing in real-world conditions.
Daniele Lorenzetti, Chief Technology Officer, Apollo Tyres Ltd said, “This is a strategic investment in autonomy, efficiency and agility. With this test track fully dedicated to us in UTAC proving grounds, we eliminate bottlenecks, increase our cost-effectiveness, gain full control of test schedules, and empower our teams to iterate and validate products, both Apollo and Vredestein brand, on their terms — especially during the critical winter season.”
The facility is designed to meet and exceed all current and anticipated technical and legal standards for winter and all-season tire development. It allows for extended-season testing windows, helping to compress development timelines and accelerate go-to-market cycles. For the Tire Industry, this signals a shift toward greater vertical integration in performance validation.
By consolidating key testing functions in a single, dedicated location, Apollo Tyres Ltd aims to enhance test accuracy, repeatability and efficiency to assess snow and ice performance of Apollo and Vredestein tires — while also building resilience into its development programs amid increasing regulatory scrutiny and climate variability.
The new outdoor testing facility is expected to be fully operational by December 2025 and will immediately begin supporting ongoing product development initiatives for both existing and future tire lines.