Michelin

Michelin is a tire company dedicated to sustainably improving the mobility of goods and people through manufacturing and marketing. The company Michelin was born in France in 1889. For more than 100 years, the Group is engaged in many activities, putting its sense of innovation for better mobility of people and goods. 

Michelin, the leading tire company, manufactures and markets tires for every type of vehicle, including aeroplanes, automobiles, bicycles/motorcycles, earthmovers, farm equipment and trucks. It also offers electronic mobility support services on ViaMichelin.com and publishes travel guides, hotel and restaurant guides, maps and road atlases. 

Headquartered in Clermont-Ferrand, France, Michelin is present in more than 170 countries, has 112,300 employees and operates 68 production plants in 17 different countries. The Group has a Technology Center in charge of research, development and process engineering, with operations in Europe, North America and Asia.

1889: Michelin was incorporated on 28 May 1889. The Michelin Group was officially founded when Edouard Michelin, the company’s founder, acquired a rubber factory that specialized in products for farm equipment. Two brothers, Édouard Michelin and André Michelin ran a farm implement business in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

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.

1892: The earliest Michelin tire took 15 minutes to change, but by June the time was down to two minutes. Two years later, it bought Uniroyal, Inc., as the United States Rubber Company.

1893: 10,000 cyclists had been fitted with Michelin tires.

1895: To show that demountable pneumatic tires could be used successfully on motor vehicles, the Michelins equipped a car with such tires held onto the rims by bolts and entered and drove it in the 1895 Paris–Bordeaux road race.

1898: The Michelin man, a rotund figure composed of tires, was born. The Michelin man, or Monsieur Bibendum, logo debuts.

1899: It beat the world speed record only four years after the invention of the car tire.

1903: Competition was intense, with 150 tire companies in France alone by this year.

1905: The U.K. operation was launched, and the Italian, the following year. In came the acquisition of rubber plantations in Indo-China.

1906: The company established its first foreign plant in Turin, Italy.

1908: They were starting to be fitted to trucks, using twin wheels to take the heavyweight, a system tested on Clermont-Ferrand buses.

1910: The company started to publish road maps, the first maps of France especially designed for motorists. 

1911: Cynics said the brothers were getting free publicity by setting an impossible task, but in fact, the prize was won, on the third anniversary of its creation.

1917: It introduced the Roulement Universel, or all-purpose, a tire with moulded treads.

1919: It took the name Driving Directions Office.

1920: For two decades, all that information came at no cost. Based on the principle that “man only truly respects what he pays for”, a brand new MICHELIN Guide was launched and sold for seven francs.

1923: There was a car tire with a pressure of 2.5 kilograms per square centimetre, able to cover 15,000 kilometres.

1926: Michelin started handing out ‘stars’ to the restaurants, and it wasn’t until a decade later that they solidified their three-star system. The guide began to award stars to fine dining establishments, initially marking them only with a single star. The guide expanded to the industry that made it famous — fine dining. The first Michelin star ratings were given this year.

1930: Michelin was the 17th largest tire vendor in the world.

1931: The restaurants, all of which were in France, were awarded a single star if they were deemed a “fine dining establishment.” The rating system was expanded to become the Michelin three-star rating that it continues to be today.

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).

1935: Michelin rescues bankrupt automaker, Citroën, running the company for the next 40 years.

1936: Five years later, a hierarchy of zero, one, two, and three stars was introduced, and the criteria for the starred rankings were published.

1944: Michelin provided official maps for the French army at the outbreak of war, and more than two million were distributed to the liberating forces.

1946: 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.

1948: Michelin was the first to introduce steel-belted radial tires. Michelin also had an eye on the United States, where it had started a sales office, targeting owners of foreign cars.

1949: The radial tire, developed in secret during the German occupation, was commercially launched in 1949 as the X-tire, and Michelin had to expand its capacity rapidly to keep pace with the public demand for these tires.

1951: Michelin was reorganized as a holding company, with interests in tires, other rubber products, and synthetic rubber.

1955: François Michelin, the 29-year-old grandson of Edouard the cofounder, became gérant, or joint managing partner, alongside head partner Robert Puiseux.

1960: On Puiseux's retirement, François became head partner, and over the next 30 years, led Michelin to the number-one position in the world tire market.

1963: François maintained this policy, and marked the opening of a new Michelin test centre at Ladoux, not far from Clermont-Ferrand.

1965: However, Michelin entered into a contract with Sears, and Roebuck to supply replacement tires for United States cars.

1967: In the United States, the outdated bias-ply tyre persisted, with a market share of 87%.

1968: Consumer Reports, an influential American magazine, acknowledged the superiority of radial construction, setting off a rapid decline in Michelin's competitor technology.

1969: 30 million X-tires per year were racing off the production lines.

1970: By this year Michelin was selling 2.5 million tires per year through its own United States outlets. 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.

1973: Michelin was the first winner of a new type of race: the World Rally Championship (WRC) created by the Fédération Internationale Automobile (FIA).

1974: For almost 40 years, until Peugeot took it over this year, Michelin effectively ran Citroën and together the two companies made up the largest industrial group in France.

1975: Michelin acquired a controlling interest in French car maker Citroën, which it held until this year. The company opens a manufacturing plant in South Carolina.

1977: Following its first Grand Prix win with Renault and Jean-Pierre Jabouille, the MICHELIN radial tire became the Formula 1 World Champion sharing the honours with Ferrari.

1979: Radial tires would achieve the ultimate cachet when they helped Jody Scheckter drive his Ferrari to victory as the Formula 1 World Champion.

1980: Uniroyal Australia had already been bought by Bridgestone.

1984: Michelin introduced radial tyre technology to Formula One and won the Formula One Drivers’ Championship with Brabham, before withdrawing this year.

1985: The M series, which appeared, offered a completely new range of state-of-the-art radial tires.

1990: Michelin acquires Uniroyal Goodrich and becomes the market leader in the tire industry.

1991: In Europe, Michelin established its Euromaster service centre chain, acquiring a number of existing chains across Europe and converting them to the Euromaster format, launched this year.

1992: On the consumer front, Michelin introduced the “green tire”, capable of reducing pollution and increasing fuel efficiency.

1994: Michelin launched the first low-rolling resistance tire, the forerunner to the MICHELIN EnergyTM range released.

1995: After setting up the Michelin Shenyang Tire Company, the Group opened production facilities in the province of Shenyang.

1998: The company boosted not only its automobile tires but also its heavy vehicle tires, Michelin opened a new facility in South Carolina to produce "Earthmover" tires, such as the 3.92-meter tall low-pressure tire capable of supporting loads up to 600 tons.

1999: The company debuted a tubeless tire for mountain bicycles.

2001: Yet the boost proved short-lived—by the middle of the year, the dip in the United States economy, responsible for a dramatic dropoff in new car purchases, sent Michelin's United States revenues plunging. The company unveils new tire design for Concorde aeroplane.

2002: Toyota joined F1 with Michelin tyres, and McLaren also signed up with the company.

2004: Michelin's high profile, especially in Europe, has come with some controversy, most notably when former French inspector Pascal Rémy released the book "L'Inspecteur Se Met à Table" ("The Inspector Sits at the Table").

2005: Michelin tyres were initially uncompetitive but by the 2005 season were totally dominant.

2006: The last race won on Michelin tyres in Formula One was the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso benefitted after the Ferrari engine of Michael Schumacher failed during the race.

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. Jean-Dominique Senard who had been one of the Managing Partners since this year became the sole Managing Partner of the Michelin Group.

2008: As of 1st of September, Michelin is again the world's largest tyre manufacturer after spending two years as number two behind Bridgestone.

2010: On 15 January, Michelin announced the closing of its Ota, Japan plant, which employs 380 workers and makes the Michelin X-Ice tyre.

2014: Since this year electric cars have been racing on Michelin tires in the Formula E single-seater street racing championship.

2017: The Challenge was given a new lease of life when it became the Movin’On by Michelin Global Sustainable Mobility Summit.

2018: In December, Michelin acquired Camso, a manufacturer of off-the-road tyres, tracks, and accessories for power sports, agriculture, material handling and construction markets. Michelin had $22 (24.5 USD) billion Euros in sales. To celebrate his 120th birthday, he got another more modern makeover unveiled.

2019: Unveiled by Michelin at the "Movin' On 2019" summit dedicated to sustainable mobility, Michelin UPTIS, the airless tire, represents a major innovation both in terms of safety and respect for the environment. Michelin announced that plants in Germany and France are to be closed soon.

2020: In July, Duffy opened a new restaurant called Ever which has earned 2 Michelin stars. Michelin hails the France hydrogen strategy plan and reaffirms its hydrogen goals.

2021: Publication of 1st quarter sales Why invest in Michelin? Become a Michelin shareholder 2021 Annual General Meeting Michelin listens to its shareholders To go further Keep Informed.

“Offering our customers the best tire at the best price in each segment of the market and setting the standard in quality of service.”

“For over a century, Michelin has been committed to offering our customers the best tire at the best price in each segment of the market and setting the standard in quality of service. To help us progress together, our principles must also be yours.”