Automotive News Canada - April 2017 - v2 - 11

* APRIL 2017

Canadian oilseed
invention found
in new-gen Nokian
tires; company hints
at Canadian plant
By KELLY TAYLOR
WINNIPEG CORRESPONDENT

NOKIA, FINLAND -
A Canadian agricultural
invention widely considered a
global Cinderella success story
is a key ingredient in a new
winter tire from Nokian Tyres,
helping to give it better grip in
snow and on glare ice.
The rubber in Nokian's latest-generation Hakkepeliitta
range of tires is designed to be
softer at colder temperatures,
aided in large part by using
canola oil in the construction.
The oil being used isn't
from Canola in Canada where
it has become a major Western
crop, but canola wouldn't
exist without the work of two
researchers at the University
of Manitoba - Baldur
Stefansson and Keith Downey

SLICK

GRIP

- who bred the heart-healthy
edible canola oilseed from
inedible rapeseed.
Nokian Tyres might not be
the world's biggest tire maker,
but it claims to be the most
profitable.
Pontus Stenberg, vice-president of sales, said his company's 1.5 billion Euro ($2.17
billion) in revenue lags well
behind competitors who
approach or exceed 20 billion
Euro ($28.9 billion) in sales,
but he said by focusing on
its niche - performance in
demanding conditions - the
small Finnish company maintains margins that would make
other companies blush.
"We continue to be the
world's most profitable tire
company, 22 per cent at minimum," Stenberg told an assembled group of 30 Canadian tire
dealers at Nokian's headquarters in its namesake town.

PICKING ITS FIGHTS
Nokian engineer Matti Morri shows how bevelling the edges
of the Hakkepeliitta 9 studs improves penetration into ice.
( P H O T O : K E L LY TAY L O R )

"As a small tire company,
we have to make choices. We
can't be best in everything,"
Stenberg said. "We have a difficult fight to compete in all

matches with (larger companies), so we have to choose
carefully where we want to
fight."
In a country such as
Finland, Nokian has built business by fulfilling the need for
winter tires, as well as tires for
the forestry industry in which
it has between 80 and 90 per
cent market share.
Nokian operates plants
in Nokia and St. Petersburg,
Russia, and recently opened a
warehouse in Montreal.
"Hopefully, one day we will
have a plant in North America
to service you better," he said.
Work is already under way
studying the construction of
another plant, perhaps in North
America or central Europe.
This fall, Nokian launches the latest in a line of winter
tires dating back 81 years.
The Hakkepeliitta 9 replaces the Hakkepeliitta 8, and in
addition to canola in the rubber composition there's new
stud technology to improve
grip during acceleration and
braking on ice, while reducing
noise and wear to road
surfaces. - ANC

NAFTA message: U.S. jobs at stake if Canada supply chain is disrupted
Study shows
Canadian
companies employ
tens of thousands
of Americans
By GREG LAYSON
ONLINE EDITOR

CANADIAN AUTO-PARTS
suppliers hope to influence U.S. lawmakers and
North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) negotiators by showing an integrated group of companies that
employs hundreds of thousands
of Americans.
Canadian parts makers
employ more people in the
United States and Mexico combined than they do in Canada,
according to a survey conducted by Canada's Automotive
Parts Manufacturers'

Association (APMA).
It says the information
might provide ammunition for
industry and government officials to argue against a proposed U.S. border adjustment
tax and any potential tweaks
to NAFTA deemed detrimental
to Canada.
The "Canadian Supply
Footprint," compiled by
the APMA in March, shows
Canadian parts makers
employ about 86,000 people
at 270 facilities in the United
States and Mexico. At home,
suppliers employ 71,000, the
report said without providing
a facility count.

UNBIASED DATA
APMA's members voluntarily completed the survey.
The association also obtained
additional data through various public and private sources,
meaning the final total encompasses data from member and

non-member manufacturers.
The APMA included sites
or facilities listed as manufacturing facilities, some of which
included research-and-development work on site. Standalone
sales offices and individual
research centres, for example,
were excluded.
The report will be presented to Canadian and U.S. politicians prior to any renegotiation of NAFTA. The association's hope is to convince lawmakers in all three NAFTA
countries that changes could
hurt the industry.
The APMA went so far as
to identify U.S. Congressional
districts that hold factories
owned by Canadian suppliers
and how many local jobs those
facilities create.
The information shows
that 31 Canadian companies
operate 150 manufacturing
facilities that employ 42,800
people in the United States.

APMA President Flavio Volpe said that parts makers are
showing the United States that Canadian companies
are true partners.

By comparison, 64 Canadian
companies have 120 facilities
that employ 43,500 people in
Mexico.
"The final numbers tell
a story of the great reach of
Canadian auto supply investment outside of Canada," the
APMA said in a statement.

APMA President Flavio
Volpe previously told
Automotive News Canada that
parts makers are attempting
to show the United States that
Canadian companies are true
partners when it comes to the
auto sector and NAFTA.
- ANC

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - April 2017 - v2