Nokian Tyres Inc. is building a factory in the U.S. to produce passenger car, SUV, and light truck tires. The plant, to be located in southeast Tennessee, will have an initial capacity to produce 4 million tires annually, and the site also will house a distribution center. 

The company will break ground in Rhea County, Tennessee, in early 2018, and production lines should be running by 2020. The distribution facility will have the capacity to hold 600,000 tires, and there is room to expand production at the tire plant "to meet future demand."

Nokian says it is investing $360 million to build what will be its first North American plant. It will serve customers in the U.S. and Canada.

“In addition to increased capacity, the Dayton, Tennessee, site’s proximity to North American customers will shorten lead and delivery times,” says Tommi Heinonen, head of Nokian Tyres North America. “It’s our goal that the new plant will help us better serve our growing customer base throughout the U.S. and Canada by improving customer service and efficiencies.”

Nokian says building a plant for North America continues the company's "strong year-over-year growth in both Canada and the U.S." The company recently increased its warehouse capacity with the opening of its Montreal-area distribution center.

The plant will create up to 400 new jobs in the local community. For more information about the plant, visit www.nokiantires.com/daytonfactory.