The Michelin Group
A Brief History
Although its roots trace back to manufacturing children’s rubber balls and industrial gaskets, valves, and tubing, it wasn’t until 1891 that the Michelin brothers’ dreams take off after an overnight repair of a bicycle tire. After searching for a quicker, better way to repair the tire, the brothers find it, and Michelin files for its first patents for detachable tires.
Other Michelin firsts include:
- Fitting the first automobile with pneumatic (or air-filled) tires
- The first detachable steel wheel, a precursor to the spare tire
- The first low-pressure passenger tire that can travel 15,000 kilometers
- The first radial tire
- The first asymmetric tire for fast cars
- The first radial tire for aircraft and motorcycles
The Michelin Group has a rich, well-balanced portfolio of brands that meet the needs of all consumer tire market segments and a high percentage of commercial market segments as well. It is a mixture of strong national brands, such as Michelin and B.F. Goodrich, as well as regional and private brands that support a multi-brand strategy.
In 1998, Michelin developed the PAX System®, a revolutionary tire that’s vertically anchored and unseatable, allowing it to run flat after a loss of pressure, which increases the tire’s safety and extends its mobility. That same year, the Michelin Group created Challenge Bibendum®, a global forum inviting hundreds of carmakers, energy suppliers, and technology associates as well as non-governmental organizations and politicians to help develop clean vehicles and sustainable mobility.
The Michelin Group debuted a Michelin Performance and Responsibility approach in 2002. Two years later, the group adopted a worldwide commitment to a better way forward™, vowing to enhance mobility based on continuous improvement of performance and exercise of responsibilities. Soon after, Michelin debuted two company-built clean concept cars.