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Home BUSINESSRovaniemi Snowmobile Factory exports products to 105 countries
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Mon, 16 Mar, 2015 12:07:53 AM
FTimes Report by Masud Riyad, Mar 16
 
FTimes Photo.
BRP Finland Oy, one of the biggest snowmobile producers in the world, is exporting its products to more than 100 countries, company officials said.
 
The officials at the company’s European headquarters in Rovaniemi said that they had been in operation in 105 countries through 4,200 dealers.
 
The turnover of the company was EUR 2.1 billion in 2013; the figure includes the Rovaniemi turnover of EUR 268 million.
 
BRP Finland, which is the headquarters of the European zone, employs 420 people. It and achieved a turnover 268 million euros in 2013, which has made BRP Finland the highest corporate taxpayer in Rovaniemi over the last few years, the officials said.
 
“Seven thousand and one hundred employees, including 750 engineers and technicians, have been working with the common ‘goal innovation’ on five different manufacturing sites in Europe and America. The manufacturing sites are in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Australia and Finland,” said Asko Saastamoinen, Human Resource Director of the company. 
 
BRP exports 90 per cent of its products to more than 100 countries, Asko added.
 
Moscow is getting a bigger market than Helsinki because of global warming, Asko said. 
 
BRP has invested 350 million euros since 2011 in research and development and introduced 1,480 patents and applications.
 
By producing 300,000 Lynx snowmobiles until the end of 2013, BRP Finland has established itself as one of the world’s leading snowmobile manufacturers.
 
FTimes Photo.
Starting in 1978, the Rovaniemi Snowmobile factory was taken over by Canadian Bombardier Inc in 1993.
 
With the acquisition of a Canadian-American investment group in 2003, the factory was renamed as Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP).
 
Lynx snowmobile production began in the late 1960s at Ostrobothnia  and moved to Rovaniemi in the 1970s, when a portion of the production of the company Velsa Oy was transferred from the town of Kurikka to Rovaniemi.
 
BPR also assembles some all-terrain models of Ski-Doo snowmobiles and Can-Am ATVs.
 
BRP Finland’s best innovation are the six-wheeled Can-Am ATVs, developed and assembled entirely in Rovaniemi.
 
Over the years, BRP Finland Oy has had a great impact on Rovaniemi’s economy. 
 
The company employs more than 300 people in its manufacturing facility.
 
In 2008–09, BRP Finland invested about €30m in a new production plant in Rovaniemi.
 
Company officials said that Rovaniemi is an ideal place for snowmobile manufacturing as the city has enough snow and demanding conditions to enable an authentic setting for snowmobile development and testing.
 
At the same time, it is very close to key markets. The city also has business-orientated administration and a skilled workforce which is very important for manufacturing.
 
 
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