Tor Ragnar Nessling MSc (diplomi-insinööri) (6 September 1901 – 23 November 1971) was a leading Finnish industrialist, entrepreneur and engineer.

He developed the business in an era when only few believed in the possibility of a Finnish automotive industry, and a decade later had become the company's majority shareholder.

Nessling took a patriarchal approach to his leadership of the company, which he built into a producer of trucks, bus chassis, rail vehicles and specialist terminal tractors.

Nessling did his abitur at the Helsinki coeducational Swedish language grammar school Läroverket för gossar och flickor in 1920.

He traveled in Sweden, the UK, Germany and the US, and between 1926 and 1928 Nessling worked successively for three Finnish automobile import companies Korpivaara & Halla, Henry-Auto and Auto-Bil.

[1] Starting a vehicle construction business virtually from scratch in the middle of a recession seemed impossible, but under Nessling's determined leadership that is what was achieved.

However, the government ignored his arguments and progressively cut the import tariffs on heavy vehicles during the 1930s, making competition for the domestic industry more intense.

The production capacity was not adequate to meet the demand; in 1942, the Defence Forces estimated that they would need 7,000 lorries and buses in the next few years.

Yhteissisu lorry production was redirected to the civilian market, and in 1948 the company was renamed "Vanajan Autotehdas" (VAT).

First his ideas about domestic heavy vehicle production were ignored in the 1930s, and then the government had forced through the creation of a powerful competitor which had established itself by using technology developed by Nessling's company.

In addition to producing lorries and bus chassis, the company provided trams and rail vehicles to the Finnish State Railways.

Unlike many contemporary industrialists, Nessling valued marketing, and he focused closely on identifying, understanding and satisfying customer needs.

Although Nessling was still the company's principal shareholder, his influence was diminished: he had very little recent experience of receiving orders or of operating with a board of directors, and he found adapting to the new situation difficult.

Tor Nessling announced his resignation as general manager of Suomen Autoteollisuus in June 1970, after leading the company for nearly four decades.

[2] Nessling had married Greta Maria "Maj" (née Kock) in 1926 who stayed home as a housewife while supporting her husband in his career.