Arjeplog, only 30 kilometres south of the Arctic circle, is where international automakers come to test their prototypes in harsh winter conditions.

This Lappish village, swept by icy winds and surrounded by 4,000 lakes, has exactly what car manufacturers need to push engines, chassis and tyres to the limit before putting them into mass production: vast amounts of space and an Arctic climate that guarantees snow and ice at least six months per year.

Or rather: used to guarantee, until the climate became less frosty, due to global warming.

"The climate has changed a lot in the past 30 years," explains David Sundstroem, a pioneer who was there when a delighted automobile industry discovered Arjeplog in 1973.

"When I started out, you could drive a truck on ice as early as December," the 81-year old veteran remembers. "Today that would simply be impossible."

And it could get worse: Meterologists now say that average temperatures could rise by 2 to 4 degrees celsius by the end of the century, one major factor being carbon dioxyde emissions.

After its humble beginnings, the winter test circuit in Arjeplog is now estimated to be worth half a billion Swedish kronor (55.5 million euros) and generates hundreds of jobs in a region which has been devastated by the decline of traditional industries, such as mining.

This region boasts the lowest temperature ever measured in Sweden, minus 52.6 degrees, in February 1966. But that was a long time ago.

German manufacturer BMW now uses garages artificially cooled to minus 30 degrees, in the middle of the countryside, making it less dependent on fickle temperatures when testing car mechanical or electronic features.

It's Arjeplog's worst nightmare that one day carmakers may go further still and build their own indoor circuits, in the United States, Japan or Germany, and stop coming North.

But reassuringly, their presence here depends not just on the weather, but also on the expertise of the local staff.

, David Sundstroem's company, Icemakers, is the leader in its field and counts some of the biggest brands among its customers, including BMW, Peugeot, Citroen, Renault, Bosch, MAN, and Scania.

Today, its chief executive, David Sundstroem's son Lars, is moving about in a snowmobile, preparing a circuit for Mercedes.

Fluorescent guiding rods are stuck in holes dug with icepicks, every 20 metres. A geometrician gives instructions, his eyes trained on his laser equipment.

The ice will be thick enough, up to one metre, by March or April, but at the start of the season it reaches hardly 20 centimetres, which explains why many a snowmobile has found a premature end at the bottom of the lake, having broken through the ice.

All vehicles keep their doors open when crossing the lake so passengers can jump off quickly if they hear the warning sound of cracking ice.

Environmentalists fear that the engine fumes up here are damaging to the eco-system, and the local authorities have taken a few measures, like asking drivers to turn off their engines when they're not moving.

But David Sundstroem, who is an engineer by training, does not believe that there is a major problem for the environment here.

All testing of water samples in the lakes below the test circuit has been satisfactory, he said.

TERRA.WIRE