The official relaunch of the tire plant in Ulyanovsk took place

On March 19, at the Gislaved tire plant in Ulyanovsk, which was opened by the Japanese Bridgestone in 2016, and became part of Cordiant in 2023, and on October 1, 2024, came under the control of Severgroup along with the entire holding, after the departure of the Japanese corporation from Russia, the plant was idle for two years, in November last year, it started producing products in test mode, and now it is carrying out serial production of tires. The plant's capacity is up to 2.4 million tires per year.

Currently, Cordiant includes five tire plants: two in Omsk and one in Yaroslavl, Kaluga, and Ulyanovsk. Last year, the holding company accounted for 13% of the Russian market for passenger and commercial tires, as well as 17 and 39% of the segments of truck CMK and combined tires, respectively. In terms of wholesale sales, the holding ranks second in the market for truck and commercial tires, and third in the sector of tires for passenger cars. Sales of passenger and light truck tires grew by 14% last year compared to 2023.

As noted by the General Director of Severgroup, Alexei Mordashov, the restart of the plant "is of great importance both for the sustainable development of the Cordiant holding and for the entire Russian tire industry".

"The stable operation of the holding in the conditions of market transformation speaks of effective management and great potential," he added. "Cordiant has unique assets in terms of equipment and competent personnel of a high class. Severgroup, in turn, has extensive experience in building and managing industrial companies that are recognized leaders in their industries, including in terms of the level of development of corporate culture and business system. We are confident that with the support of regional and federal authorities, the Cordiant holding will have a stabilizing effect on the market and will be able to meet the growing demand of the domestic consumer - both in the mass and premium segments."

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia Mikhail Yurin emphasized that over the past two years, the holding has "become a flagship of the Russian tire market, successfully consolidating production assets after the departure of foreign owners and creating conditions for their sustainable growth".

"Despite the high sanction pressure, the tire industry showed growth of more than 8% last year," he said. "Thanks to the efforts of interested investors, innovative production technologies are being developed in Russia, including the premium segment, a unique production culture is being preserved, and a high level of personnel qualification is being maintained. With the arrival of an industrial investor, new opportunities are opening up for the holding for technological leadership: further localization of the raw material and component base, automation of production, and expansion of the product line in accordance with the needs of the Russian market and current trends. The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia is ready to provide support to the Cordiant holding in the implementation of initiatives aimed at strengthening the positions of the domestic tire industry."

According to the General Director of Cordiant, Vadim Volodin, in 2025, the holding plans to continue increasing its market share, expanding its range and strengthening its positions in all segments, especially in the premium one. "In addition, we will continue to systematically develop the potential of all our sites in order to reach 100% capacity utilization by the end of 2026," he said.

In Ulyanovsk, premium-class tires are produced under the Gislaved brand, among other things. The company notes that "historically, the Ulyanovsk plant produced premium tires, so during the rebranding, it was decided to give it the name identical to the Gislaved brand - similarly to the plant in Kaluga, which also previously belonged to a foreign owner [Continental] and produced premium products".

Last November, the test launch of the Ulyanovsk plant began with the production of the new summer tire Cordiant Run Tour, which is already available from distributors. In February 2025, the production of new winter tires Gislaved Spike Control and Cordiant Snow Max 7000 started, which will go on sale in the fall of this year. In total, in 2025, it is planned to produce 1.2 million tires at the plant, including products from two new summer and one winter line of Gislaved, as well as from one summer and one winter line of Cordiant.

On March 19, an agreement on cooperation was signed between the government of the Ulyanovsk region, Cordiant, and the Gislaved plant, which, in particular, implies joint work in the field of development and production of new products, including innovative tires with improved characteristics. The holding will also consider the possibility of including part of the enterprise's land plots in the composition of a special economic zone of an industrial-production type, which is currently being created in the industrial park "Promышленная zona "Zavolzhye"". It is expected that the interaction between the parties will have a positive impact on "increasing the volume of production and sales of Russian-made tire products in general".

The Governor of the Ulyanovsk region, Alexei Russkikh, said that in the region, together with domestic investors, all foreign enterprises that were stopped due to sanctions have been restarted, and the resumption of production at the tire plant is of great importance, since about 700 people work there.

"We expect that the cooperation agreement between the government of the Ulyanovsk region and the Cordiant holding will allow us to implement new mutually beneficial projects and joint initiatives in the future," Russkikh emphasized.