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.

 

[TacoFergie]

This is a really interesting tire. I wonder how loud it would be and how quick the studs would wear in cold climates? For instance, in NW IA most of our winter is below 25F, often in the single digits and some weeks down to -10F or lower with zero snow on the ground. So the studs would likely be out most of the winter causing more wear to the studs. Not sure if that's a bad thing? I've never had studded tires, never really felt the need I suppose. But it does look like it has larger lug spacing than the R5 which may help in deeper fresh snow. That's my only complaint with the R5 is that it's not as good in deep fresh snow as previous Nokian Hakka's I've had. Currently I have the Nokian R5's for winter on our Ascent and this upcoming winter will probably be the last season on those. I'll be curious to see reviews on these tires.