Michelin

Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin SCA ("General Company of the Michelin Enterprises P.L.S."), commonly referred to as Michelin, is a French multinational tyre manufacturer based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes région of France.

In addition to the Michelin brand, it also owns the Kleber Tyre Company, Uniroyal (in North America, Colombia, and Peru), BFGoodrich, Riken, and SASCAR (among various others) brands. Michelin is also notable for its Red and Green travel guides, its roadmaps, the Michelin stars that the Red Guide awards to restaurants for their cooking, and for its company mascot Bibendum, colloquially known as the Michelin Man, who is a humanoid consisting of tyres.[2]

Michelin's numerous inventions include the removable tyre, the pneumatic tyre for automobiles, the pneumatic tyre for trucks, twin tyres on trucks, the asymmetric tyre, the run-flat tyre, the green tyre, the pneurail (a tyre for rubber-tyred metros) and the radial tyre for automobiles, trucks, earthmovers, aircraft, and motorcycles. Michelin manufactures tyres for Space Shuttles,[3] aircraft, automobiles, heavy equipment, motorcycles, and bicycles.

The company has been the world's largest tyre manufacturer by annual revenue since 2021.[4] In 2012, the group produced 166 million tyres at 69 facilities, located in 18 countries.[5]

History

In 1889, two brothers, Édouard Michelin (1859–1940) and André Michelin (1853–1931), took over Barbier Daubrée, a struggling farm implement business founded in 1832 in Clermont-Ferrand, France. Barbier-Daubrée manufactured rubber parts for farm machinery such as valves and gaskets and other rubber items such as balls and brake pads. One day a cyclist whose pneumatic tyre needed repair turned up at the factory. The tyre was glued to the rim, and it took over three hours to remove and repair the tyre, which then needed to be left overnight to dry.

The next day, Édouard Michelin took the repaired bicycle into the factory yard to test. After only a few hundred metres, the tyre failed. Despite the setback, Édouard was enthusiastic about the pneumatic tyre, and he and his brother worked on creating their own version, one that did not need to be glued to the rim. Barbier-Daubrée was reincorporated and renamed as Michelin on 28 May 1889. In 1891 Michelin took out its first patent for a removable pneumatic tyre which was used by Charles Terront to win the world's first long-distance cycle race, the 1891 Paris–Brest–Paris.[6][7] Four years later, Michelin created the world's first pneumatic tyres (originally pioneered in 1888 by John Boyd Dunlop for bicycles) for automobiles, using them in a car called L'Eclair competing in the 1895 Paris-Bordeaux-Paris race.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Michelin operated large rubber plantations in Vietnam. Conditions at these plantations led to the famous labour movement Phú Riềng Đỏ.[8]

In 1934, Michelin introduced a tyre which, if punctured, would run on a special foam lining, a design now known as a run-flat tyre (self-supporting type).

Michelin developed and patented a key innovation in tyre history, the 1946 radial tyre, and successfully exploited this technological innovation to become one of the world's leading tyre manufacturers.[10] The radial was initially marketed as the "X" tyre.[11] It was developed with the front-wheel-drive Citroën Traction Avant and Citroën 2CV in mind.

Michelin had bought the then-bankrupt Citroën in the 1930s. Because of its superiority in handling and fuel economy, use of this tyre quickly spread throughout Europe and Asia.[10] In the U.S., the outdated bias-ply tyre persisted, with a market share of 87% in 1967.[10] Michelin also introduced the XAS, the world's first asymmetric tyre, in 1964.

In 1966, Michelin partnered with Sears to produce radial tyres under the Allstate brand and was selling 1 million units annually by 1970.

In 1968, Michelin opened its first North American sales office, and was able to grow that market for its products rapidly; by 1989 the company had a 10% market share for OEM tyres purchased by American automobile makers.[12]

Also in 1968, Consumer Reports, an influential American magazine, acknowledged the superiority of the radial construction, setting off a rapid decline in Michelin's competitor technology.[13] In the U.S., the radial tyre now has a market share of 100%.[10]

In addition to the private label and replacement tyre market, Michelin scored an early OEM tyre win in North America, when it received the contract for the 1970 Continental Mark III, the first American car with radial tyres fitted as standard.[14]

In 1989, Michelin acquired the recently merged tyre and rubber manufacturing divisions of the American firms B.F. Goodrich Company (founded in 1870) and Uniroyal, Inc. (founded in 1892 as the United States Rubber Company) from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.[12][15] Uniroyal Australia had already been bought by Bridgestone in 1980. This purchase included the Norwood, North Carolina manufacturing plant which supplied tyres to the U.S. Space Shuttle Program.[16][17]

Also in 1989, Michelin created Michelin Okamoto Tire Corporation, a joint venture with Japanese rubber/condom manufacturer Okamoto Industries, who already owned the Riken brand.[18] In Japan, MOTC marketed Michelin, BFGoodrich, and Riken, which Michelin still markets today as a budget performance tyre brand.

In 1994, Michelin Okamoto launched the Green X line of fuel-saving tyres, a line of studless winter tyres: the Maxi-Glace (a version of the XM+S 100 for the Japanese market), W-Edge (rebranded XM+S Alpin), and the Maxi Ice,[19] as well as a high performance tire, the GTX Virage,[20] which was also marketed as the MXF Sport[21] in some countries. The joint venture was later terminated in 2000, with Michelin buying all of Okamoto's shares.

In 1992, Michelin unveiled the green tyre, a tyre featuring Green X technology, advertised as saving fuel, lowering rolling resistance, and reducing emissions, in that year's Paris Motor Show with the MXN, a variant of their MXT tyre.[22]

The green tyres was launched to the public released in 1994, marketed as the Energy in Europe and the rest of the world, and as the Green X in Japan. In Europe, the Energy launched with the Energy MXT, a fuel-saving version of their regular MXT tyre and the Energy MXV3-A for luxury cars. In 1997, the Energy MXV4, an asymmetric luxury performance tyre, was added to the lineup.

In Japan, the Green X line began with the MXGS in 1994. The line later consisted of the MXGS, MXT Green (released in 1996), MXV3-A Green (released in 1997), MXV4 Green (also released in 1997), MXE Green (a successor to the MXT, released in 1998), and the MXK Green (for kei cars, released in 1999).[23] In the early 2000s, the series was unified globally as the Energy, and is still sold today as the Energy Saver line.

As of 1 September 2008, Michelin is again the world's largest tyre manufacturer after spending two years as number two behind Bridgestone.[24] Michelin produces tyres in France, Serbia, Poland, Spain, Germany, the US, the UK, Canada, Brazil, Thailand, Japan, India, Italy and several other countries.

On 15 January 2010, Michelin[25] announced the closing of its Ota, Japan plant, which employs 380 workers and makes the Michelin X-Ice tyre. Production of the X-Ice will be moved to Europe, North America, and elsewhere in Asia.[26] In 2019, Michelin announced that plants in Germany and France are to be closed soon.[27]

In 2010, Michelin introduced its sonic identity, created by the agency Sixième Son, notably presented at the Paris Motor Show and deployed across the brand’s communications[28][29]. The sonic signature was rolled out internationally across advertising, audiovisual content and brand touchpoints[30].

Michelin also controls 90% of Taurus Tyre in Hungary, as well as Kormoran,[31] a Polish brand.

In December 2018, Michelin acquired Camso, a manufacturer of off-the-road tyres, tracks, and accessories for power sports, agriculture, material handling and construction markets.[32]

On 22 January 2019, it was announced that Michelin had acquired Indonesian manufacturer Multistrada Arah Sarana, which produces Achilles Radial and Corsa tyres.[33] On 19 June that year, Michelin owns 99.64% of the share capital of Multistrada.[34][35]

In April 2026, Michelin announced the completion of its acquisition of the American company Flexitallic.[36]

Motorsport

Recent developments

• Pax System
• Tweel
• X One
• Agri
• BAZ Technology. Michelin employs specific tread construction, that uses spiral-wrapped nylon strips. The strips are applied in the tread area above steel belts in order to oppose centrifugal force, in order to avoid tyre distortion at high speeds.
• EverGrip Technology. This is a patented safety technology that allows combining tread groove design. This way, it does not just wear down, but evolves due to high traction tread compound, which makes driving safer on snowy and wet roads.
• Zero Pressure Technology means a reinforced sidewall that is designed to continue supporting the vehicle's weight even when air pressure is lost. The technology allows driving at speeds between 50 and 55 mph for some time.

Other products

Management

From 1999, the company was headed by CEO Édouard Michelin. On 26 May 2006, Édouard drowned while fishing near the island of Sein, off the coast of Brittany.[61] His death brought Michel Rollier, a 2nd cousin of Édouard Michelin, to the head of the company. Rollier was replaced in May 2012 by Jean-Dominique Senard.[62] In 2018, Jean-Dominique Senard announced he would not seek re-election at the shareholders' meeting in 2019. As a result, the shareholders elected Florent Menegaux to succeed Senard starting in 2019.

The company also has its headquarters in Greenville, South Carolina, United States as Michelin North America. They first manufactured in the city in 1975 before opening up their headquarters a decade later.[63]

See also

• Budd–Michelin rubber-tired rail cars
• List of tire companies
• Michelin rubber plantation

External links

• Yahoo! – Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin Company Profile
• How Is It Made
• Michelin Tyres Middle East
• Michelin Map Collection at the Newberry Library