Nine decades of winter innovation: Nokian Tyres celebrates 90th birthday of legendary Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta® product family
Nokian Tyres plc Press Release September 10, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. EEST
Nokian Tyres is celebrating the 90th birthday of its legendary family of winter tires, Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta®. The company commemorates the milestone with the launch of its newest winter product, the Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta® 01, announced in March and available for sale at tire shops this fall.
“The Hakkapeliitta product family is an iconic part of our heritage and continues to play a central role in our strategy,” said Nokian Tyres President and CEO Paolo Pompei. “Achieving and maintaining leadership in the winter tire market requires continuous innovation. The new Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta 01 is a clear demonstration of that commitment, combining our long-standing expertise with the latest advancements in safety and performance.”
Nokian Tyres introduced the first Hakkapeliitta-branded tire in 1936, just two years after the world’s first winter tire. The debut product, called the Lumi-Hakkapeliitta, featured a transverse tread pattern and suction-pad-style grip that made it a breakthrough in winter mobility. It was also the first winter tire made especially for passenger cars.
Nokian Tyres continued growing the Hakkapeliitta’s influence in the years that followed. The Haka-Hakkapeliitta was one of the best-selling winter tires of the 1950s and 1960s, featuring a tread with a dense pattern of protrusions that proved effective on icy roads with packed snow. The first studded Hakkapeliitta, Kometa-Hakkapeliitta, was introduced in the 1960s.
Over the last nine decades, the global tiremaker from Finland expanded the Hakkapeliitta’s influence from wintry corners of the Nordics to snowy surfaces across the globe. The product family gained global recognition in the 1950s and 1960s by dominating the Monte Carlo Rally, cementing the brand’s association with extreme weather performance. Forty years ago, in 1986, the company opened a test facility in Ivalo, Finland to help the tire withstand winter’s most challenging driving elements. The Ivalo Test Center, White Hell, is a diverse winter tire testing environment, with temperature variations of up to 40 degrees possible in a single week.
Winter tire innovations continued in the next millennium. From 2000 onward, all new Hakkapeliitta tires feature the Driving Safety Indicator, an easy-to-read number molded into the tire that indicates how much tread life remains. During the last few decades, Nokian Tyres has introduced innovations to studded Hakkapeliitta winter tires such as the square stud, Bear Claw technology and Double Stud technology. Non-studded Hakkapeliitta tires achieve responsive ice performance courtesy of innovations such as Arctic Grip Crystals.
Today, studded and non-studded Hakkapeliitta winter tires can be found on passenger cars, SUVs, commercial vehicles, and heavy equipment used in forestry, agriculture, mining and more.
Models such as the studded Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta 10 and non-studded Hakkapeliitta R5 have ranked atop test results and helped keep drivers safe in diverse winter weather.
The Hakkapeliitta 01 represents a step forward in that rich legacy – a winter tire that comes with On-Demand Grip. To demonstrate Nokian Tyres’ commitment to continuous development, this is the second time in the tire series’ history that the company reset its numerical naming convention – this time to “01.” The new number represents the new tire’s core feature – the ability for studs to enter “OFF” and “ON” modes in response to driving conditions.
When roads are icy and snowy, the studs are pressed out by an adaptive base layer beneath the tread and stay out while driving. When roads are dry or damp, the compound softens and produces less force on the studs, allowing them to sink deeper into the tire.
The result is a tire that reduces road wear by up to 30 percent compared to its predecessor, the Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta 10. Ice grip improves by up to 10 percent and wet grip up to 5 percent compared to the Hakkapeliitta 10. At the same time, the Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta 01 reduces noise levels by as much as one decibel compared to its predecessor, making the Hakkapeliitta 01 a victory of safety and comfort.
Consumers can purchase the Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta 01 this fall at tire shops across the Nordics, North America and Central Europe.
To learn more about the Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta 01, visit NokianTyres.com/01. To read more about Nokian Tyres’ nine decades of winter leadership, visit company.nokiantyres.com/about-us/history/90-years/.
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About Nokian Tyres
Nokian Tyres' purpose is to make the world safer by reinventing tires, and how they are made, over and over again -- a safer place to drive, work and live now and for generations to come. Inspired by our northern heritage, we develop and manufacture premium tires for passenger cars, trucks and heavy machinery. Our Vianor chain provides tire and car services. We are some 4,000 people with net sales of EUR 1.4 billion in 2025, and together we lead the journey to smarter driving for people and for businesses. Nokian Tyres is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.
Further information:company.nokiantyres.com,www.nokiantyres.com