New Nokian Winter Tire with "Automatic" Studs: Hakkapeliitta 01

[SubLGT]

Nokian has been working on this for a long time, and it is finally here.

https://na.nokiantyres.com/hakkapeliitta-01/

https://autosphere.ca/tires/2026/03/09/stud-on-stud-off/

According to Mikko Liukkula, Nokian Tyre’s Development Manager, he and his engineering team have been working on a tire that could deploy studs on demand for many years.........

........Finally, Liukkula and his team came up with the idea of a special rubber compound layer within the tire—known as the “adaptive base layer”—that would house the bottom flange of each stud. This layer would get hard when temperatures dropped, and remain soft and pliable when temperatures rose. When hard, the layer would keep the studs in the “On” position. When soft, it would allow each stud to sink into the tread, essentially switching the studs “Off.”

...Although Nokian Tyres wouldn’t specify the exact ambient temperature at which the adaptive base layer makes the switch from hard to soft, and vice versa, their technical presentation, as well as our own testing during the “lab” portion of the program, seemed to suggest that the studs stay in the “On” position at and below -5 degrees Celsius, and in the “Off” position when temperatures rise above 5 degrees Celsius (41degF).

The new Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta 01 product range will be available to consumers in autumn 2026. The main markets are the Nordic countries and North America. Nokian Tyres produces the tire at its factory in Nokia, Finland.

 

[SubLGT]

 

[zrxkawboy]

Interesting! I look forward to hearing about their performance in the real world next winter.

 

[Vercingetorix]

Those Nokian guys must be serious. They all kinda look like Kimi Raikkonen.

 

[NibbanaBanana]

Prices?

 

[ceecbtg]

NWO's stink commercial at start , real tyre info after.
Seems a brand I'm not going to recommend or buy anymore, like Continental.