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 larger than both
Goodyear and
Continental. In addition to the Michelin brand, it also owns the Kléber tyres company,
Uniroyal-Goodrich Tire Company, SASCAR,
Bookatable and
Camso 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.
Michelin's numerous inventions include the removable tyre, the pneurail (a tyre for
rubber-tyred metros) and the
radial tyre.
Michelin manufactures tyres for
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...
s,
aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines. ...
,
automobiles
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded ...
,
heavy equipment,
motorcycles
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruisin ...
, and
bicycles
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-powered assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...
. In 2012, the group produced 166 million tyres at 69 facilities located in 18 countries.
History
In 1889, two brothers,
Édouard Michelin (1859–1940) and
André Michelin (1853–1931), ran a farm implement business in
Clermont-Ferrand, France. 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. Michelin was incorporated 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.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Michelin operated large rubber plantations in Vietnam. Conditions at these plantations led to the famous labour movement
Phu Rieng Do.
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
A run-flat tire/tyre is a pneumatic vehicle tire that is designed to resist the effects of deflation when punctured, and to allow the vehicle to continue to be driven at reduced speeds - under – and for limited distances – usually , depending ...
(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.
The radial was initially marketed as the "X" tyre. 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.
In the U.S., the outdated bias-ply
tyre persisted, with market share of 87% in 1967.
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 10% market share for
OEM tyres purchased by American automobile makers.
Also in 1968, ''
Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports (CR), formerly Consumers Union (CU), is an American nonprofit consumer organization dedicated to independent product testing, investigative journalism, consumer-oriented research, public education, and consumer advocacy.
Founded ...
'', an influential American magazine, acknowledged the superiority of the radial construction, setting off a rapid decline in Michelin's competitor technology.
In the U.S., the radial tyre now has a market share of 100%.
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 Continental Mark III is a personal luxury car marketed by Lincoln from 1969–1971 model years. The namesake successor of the 1956–1957 Continental Mark II, the Mark III again served as the flagship vehicle of Ford Motor Company. Off ...
, the first American car with radial tyres fitted as standard.
In 1989, Michelin acquired the recently merged tyre and rubber manufacturing divisions of the American firms
B.F. Goodrich Company
The Goodrich Corporation, formerly the B.F. Goodrich Company, was an American manufacturing company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in Akron, Ohio in 1870 as Goodrich, Tew & Co. by Benjamin Goodrich, the company name was cha ...
(founded in 1870) and Uniroyal, Inc. (founded in 1892 as the
United States Rubber Company) from
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.
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
The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. I ...
.
As of 1 September 2008, Michelin is again the world's largest tyre manufacturer after spending two years as number two behind Bridgestone. 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 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. In 2019, Michelin announced that plants in Germany and France are to be closed soon.
Michelin also controls 90% of Taurus Tyre in Hungary, as well as Kormoran, 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.
On 22 January 2019, it was announced that Michelin had acquired Indonesian manufacturer
Multistrada Arah Sarana, which produces Achilles Radial and Corsa tyres. On 19 June that year, Michelin owns 99.64% of the share capital of Multistrada.
Motorsport
MotoGP
Michelin participated in
MotoGP from 1972 to 2008. They introduced radial construction to MotoGP in 1984, and multi-compound tyres in 1994. They achieved 360 victories in 36 years, and from 1993 to 2006, the world championship had gone to a rider on Michelins.
In 2007,
Casey Stoner on
Bridgestone tyres won the world championship in dominating fashion, and
Valentino Rossi and other top riders complained that Michelins were inferior. Rossi wanted Bridgestones for the 2008 season, but Bridgestone was reluctant to provide them;
Dorna threatened to impose a control tyre on the series, after which Bridgestone relented.
In 2008, Michelin committed errors of judgment in allocating adequate tyres for some of the race weekends.
Dani Pedrosa's team switched to Bridgestones in the midst of the season, a highly unusual move that caused friction between
Honda Racing Corporation and their sponsor
Repsol YPF
Repsol S.A.
El Nuevo Herald, 2012-05-31[Originally an init ...]
. Other riders also expressed concerns and it seemed that Michelin might not have any factory riders for the 2009 season, leading to rumours that Michelin would withdraw from the series altogether. Dorna and the
FIM announced that a control tyre would be imposed on MotoGP for the 2009 season and Michelin did not enter a bid, effectively ending its participation in the series at the end of 2008.
Michelin returned to MotoGP in 2016 as official tyre supplier after Bridgestone's withdrawal from the series at the end of 2015.
Formula One
Michelin first competed in the
1977 Formula One season, when Renault started development of their
turbocharged F1 car. Michelin introduced
radial tyre technology to Formula One and won the
Formula One Drivers' Championship with
Brabham and
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
, before withdrawing at the end of 1984.
The company returned to Formula One in
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...
, supplying the
Williams,
Jaguar,
Benetton (renamed
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...
in 2002),
Prost and
Minardi teams.
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
joined F1 in 2002 with Michelin tyres, and
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
also signed up with the company. Michelin tyres were initially uncompetitive but by the 2005 season were totally dominant. This was partly because the new regulations stated that tyres must last the whole race distance (and qualifying), and partly because only one top team (Ferrari) was running Bridgestones, and so had to do much of the development work. Michelin in contrast had much more testing and race data provided by the larger number of teams running their tyres.
Following the debacle of the
2005 United States Grand Prix
The 2005 United States Grand Prix (officially the 2005 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on June 19, 2005, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and was the ninth race of the 2005 Formula One World Championship. ...
where, because of safety concerns, Michelin would not allow the teams it supplied to race, Michelin's share price fell by 2.5% (though it recovered later the same day). On 28 June, Michelin announced that it would offer compensation to all race fans who had bought tickets for the Grand Prix. The company committed to refunding the price of all tickets for the race. Additionally, it announced that it would provide 20,000 complimentary tickets for the 2006 race to spectators who had attended the 2005 event.
Michelin has had a difficult relationship with the sport's governing body (the
FIA) since around 2003 and this escalated to apparent disdain between the two parties during the
2005 season. The most high-profile disagreement was at the United States Grand Prix and the acrimony afterwards. Michelin criticised the FIA's intention to move to a single source (i.e. one brand) tyre from 2008 and threatened to withdraw from the sport. In a public rebuke FIA President
Max Mosley wrote "There are simple arguments for a single tyre, and if
ichelin boss Édouard Michelinis not aware of this, he shows an almost comical lack of knowledge of modern Formula One". Another bone of contention has been the reintroduction of tyre changes during pit-stops from 2006. Michelin criticised the move claiming "this event illustrates F1's problems of incoherent decision-making and lack of transparency".
In December 2005, and as a result of the difficult relationship with the sport's governing body, Michelin announced that it would not extend its involvement in Formula One beyond the 2006 season.
Bridgestone was then the sole supplier of tyres to Formula One until the end of the 2010 season, with
Pirelli providing tyres for 2011.
The last race won on Michelin tyres in Formula One was the
2006 Japanese Grand Prix
The 2006 Japanese Grand Prix (formally known as the 2006 Formula 1 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One race held on 8 October 2006 at the Suzuka Circuit, in Suzuka, Japan. It was the seventeenth and penultimate round of the 2006 ...
,
Fernando Alonso benefitting after the
Ferrari engine of
Michael Schumacher failed during the race. This gave Michelin a second consecutive
Constructors' Championship win, with the 2005 and
2006, after Bridgestone's seven-year winning streak, and brought to a total of four the number of titles for Michelin since this championship's inception back in the
1958 Formula One season
The 1958 Formula One season was the 12th season of Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1958 World Championship of Drivers, which commenced on 19 January 1958 and ended on 19 October after eleven races. This was the first Formula One sea ...
; Michelin's other titles were in the
1979, and
1984 seasons.
Endurance racing
Michelin is involved in endurance races such as the
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose w ...
and the
American Le Mans Series. Involvement in Le Mans began with supplying tyres for the winner of the inaugural
1923 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as nine others of the 33 entrants. In 2009 Michelin supplied tyres for 41 of the 55 cars entered in Le Mans. In 2016 they provide the Audi, Porsche and Toyota LMP1 teams, as well as the AF Corse, BMW, Corvette, Ford Ganassi, Porsche and Risi teams in GTE-Pro / GTLM. Beginning in 2019, Michelin will replace Continental as the official tyre of the
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Along with supplying tyres for IMSA's top three series, the partnership includes naming rights for the Sports Car Challenge series and the North American Endurance Cup.
Michelin has also supplied tyres in the
European Le Mans Series. They have been the exclusive supplier of the LMP3 class since 2015.
Rallying
In the
World Rally Championship, Michelin has been supplier of the Audi, Citroën, Ford, Lancia, Mitsubishi, Peugeot, Toyota and Volkswagen factory teams. Michelin Group brand BFGoodrich represented the brand in 2006 and 2007. The company was absent from 2008 to 2010, when Pirelli was signed as the official supplier, after which they returned to the series as official supplier from 2011-2020 until Pirelli won the tender to once again become official supplier from 2021 onwards.
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 tread area above steel belts in order to oppose centripetal force, in order to avoid tyre distortion at high speeds.
*EverGrip Technology. This is a patented safety technology that allows combining tread grove design. This way, it does not just wear down, but evolves due to high traction tread compound, that makes drive safer on snowy and wet roads.
*Zero Pressure Technology means reinforced sidewall that is designed to continue supporting the vehicle's weight even when air pressure is lost. The technology allows to continue driving at speeds between 50 and 55 mph for some time.
Active Wheel
Active Wheel from Michelin includes
in-wheel electric motors and a motorised suspension to free up space in the front or rear of the vehicle. This model also eliminates the need for other notorious space hogs like transmissions and exhaust systems. The wheels already have a vehicle ready to receive them, the
Heuliez Will from Opel, and are also expected to come standard on the
Venturi Volage sometime in 2012. The project was interrupted in 2014.
Other products
Tyre retailer
Tyre retail in Europe with Euromaster and in the US with its wholly owned subsidiary TCI Tyre Centers.
Tour guides
Michelin has long published two guidebook series, the Red Guides to hotels and restaurants, and the Green Guides for tourism. It now publishes several additional guides, as well as digital map and guide products. The
city map
A city map is a Scale (map), large-scale thematic map of a city (or part of a city) created to enable the fastest possible Orientation (mental), orientation in an Urbanity, urban space. The graphic representation of objects on a city map is theref ...
s in both the Red and the Green guides are of high quality, and are linked to the smaller-scale road maps.
Maps
Michelin publishes a variety of road
maps, mostly of France but also of other European countries, countries in Africa,
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
and the United States. They have recently embarked in e-commerce selling Michelin maps and guides directly to the public through, for example, their UK website. The Michelin roadmaps were reproduced in England for the Allied invasion during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. The Germans also reproduced in 1940 the 1938 edition Michelin maps for the invasion.
Online mapping
ViaMichelin is a wholly owned subsidiary of Michelin Group, and was started in 2001, to represent Michelin's digital mapping services. As of August 2008, ViaMichelin generates 400 million maps and routes per month on its main website.
ViaMichelin provides mapping for internet, mobile and satellite navigation products with street level coverage of Europe, USA, Australia, and parts of Asia and South America.
Michelin Challenge Bibendum / Movin'On (since 2017)
The
Michelin Challenge Bibendum is a major
sustainable mobility event.
Michelin Truck and Bus
In 1952, 6 years after Michelin patented its Radial Casing, Michelin adapted the radial technology to truck tyres.
Management
From 1999, the company was headed by CEO
Édouard Michelin. On 26 May 2006, Édouard drowned while fishing near the island of
Sein
Sein can refer to:
Places
* ÃŽle-de-Sein, an island and commune in Brittany, France
*Raz de Sein, a stretch of water in Brittany, France
People
;Given name
* Sein Aye, birthname of Sitt Nyein Aye (born 1956), Burmese artist
*Sein Hlaing (1918-201 ...
, off the coast of
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period o ...
. His death brought
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 of the Michelin tire compa ...
, a 2nd cousin of Édouard Michelin, to the head of the company. Rollier was replaced in May 2012 by
Jean-Dominique Senard
Jean-Dominique Senard (born 7 March 1953) is a French industrialist in the automobile industry. On 11 May 2012, he succeeded Michel Rollier as chief executive officer of the Michelin tire company after joining the company as chief financial offi ...
.
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.
Group Executive Committee
* Florent Menegaux, Managing General Partner & Chief Executive Officer
* Yves Chapot, Partner, General Manager & Chief Financial Officer
* Bénédicte de Bonnechose, Business Director (Road Transportation) – Oversees the Europe Regions
* Adeline Challon-Kemoun, Corporate Director (Engagement and Brands)
* Scott Clark, Business Director (Automotive, Motorsport & Experiences) – Oversees the Americas Regions
* Lorraine Frega, Business Director (Innovation & Partnerships, Corporate Directions, Distribution and Services & Solutions)
* Jean-Christophe Guerin, Manufacturing Operational Director
* Serge Lafon, Business Director (Specialties) – Oversees the Africa/India/Middle East, China and East Asia and Australia Regions
* Jean-Claude Pats, Personnel Corporate Director
* Maude Portigliatti, Business Director (High Technology Materials)
* Eric Vinesse, Research & Development Operational Director
See also
*
Budd–Michelin rubber-tired rail cars
The Budd–Michelin rubber-tired rail cars were built by the Budd Company in the United States between 1931 and 1933 using French firm Michelin's "Micheline (railcar), Micheline" railcar, rail car design. Michelin built its first rail car in 192 ...
*
List of tire companies
References
External links
*
Yahoo! – Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin Company ProfileHow Is It Made*
Michelin Tyres Middle EastMichelin Map Collection a
the Newberry Library
{{Authority control
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French companies established in 1889
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Automotive companies established in 1889
Cycle parts manufacturers
French brands
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Multinational companies headquartered in France
Tire manufacturers of France
Articles containing video clips
Companies based in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Formula One tyre suppliers