August 26, 2008

The 40th anniversary of the company

The decision to establish a car factory in Finland was made 40 years ago in August. Mr. Olavi J. Mattila, President of the Finnish Valmet Corporation, and Mr. Curt Mileikowsky, President of the Swedish Saab-Scania AB, signed an agreement of cooperation on August 15, 1968. A passenger car factory was to be built in Finland as a joint venture between Saab-Scania and Valmet in order to produce Saab cars for the Finnish market. One week later it was published that the factory was to be built in Uusikaupunki.

The process was started already in spring 1966, when the Finnish government asked the company Valmet  to find out the possibilities to establish a passenger car factory in Finland. The car manufacture was to be based on international cooperation. By spring 1968 it was decided that the factory would produce Saab cars.

Dozens of Finnish cities competed for the factory. The advantages of the south-western town Uusikaupunki were the harbor, a large plot, availability of workforce and short distances to export and import.

The first car, a Saab 96, was finished on November 13, 1969, only 15 months after the decision. By the end of June 2008, the production in Uusikaupunki totalled 1,081,299 cars including Saab, Chrysler-Talbot, Opel Calibra, Euro-Samara and Porsche.

Today, Valmet Automotive's business idea is to be a first-class service provider for automotive industry. The cars in production are Porsche Boxster and Porsche Cayman. In July, Valmet Automotive signed a letter of intent with Fisker Automotive, an American company, to produce Fisker Karma hybrid vehicles at Valmet Automotive.

Valmet Automotive is owned by Metso, a global engineering and technology corporation.