In a move to redefine its development capabilities, Apollo Tyres Ltd has announced the upcoming opening of a cutting-edge outdoor tyre testing facility at Ivalo, Finland, specifically engineered for winter and all-season tyre 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 recognised automotive testing and certification group, the facility will feature exclusive, tailor-made infrastructure and dedicated test tracks, purpose-built for winter and all-season tyre 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 tyre development. It allows for extended-season testing windows, helping to compress development timelines and accelerate go-to-market cycles. For the tyre 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 tyres -- while also building resilience into its development programmes 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 tyre lines.
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