François Rollier (1915–1992), was as a french lawyer who joined the

Michelin Michelin (; ; full name: ) is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes ''région'' of France. It is the second largest tyre manufacturer in the world behind Bridgestone and la ...

company in 1956. He was a leading director of Michelin between 1966 and 1991 alongside his cousin, François Michelin and, from 1986, René Zingraff. On 24 June 1970 Rollier became chairman of

Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...

, an automobile manufacturer and leading customer of the Michelin tire company in the 1930s. Citroën had run out of cash, and thereby been acquired by the tire supplier to which it was at the time heavily indebted. Rollier became Citroën Chairman at a time when the company had recently plugged an open gap in its range with the launch of the

Citroën GS The GS is a front-engine, front-drive, four or five door, five passenger family car manufactured and marketed by Citroën in two series: for model years 1970-1979 in fastback saloon and estate bodystyles and subsequently as the GSA for model ye ...

and was consequently seen by Rollier and others to be at the start of a trajectory towards profitability. The oil price shock of the early 1970s would see the company returning to heavy losses and Michelin ceding control over it to rival auto-maker

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

in 1975. Rollier retired in 1991, and was replaced at the helm of Michelin by Édouard Michelin. François Rollier was the father of another Michelin director and board member,

Michel Rollier Michel Rollier (born 19 September 1944 in Annecy, Haute-Savoie, France) is a French industrialist in the automobile industry. On 26 May 2006, he succeeded Édouard Michelin (the second), as chief executive officer A chief executive officer ...

(2006- 2021) and of Philippe Rollier, CEO of Lafarge North America.

Sources and further reading

External links

Michelin genealogy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rollier, Francois 1915 births 20th-century French businesspeople Michelin people 1992 deaths